


Don't Give Me Diamonds

by Mikari



Series: Endless [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-26
Updated: 2014-05-07
Packaged: 2018-01-20 20:08:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 421,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1523957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikari/pseuds/Mikari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of a romance between a good girl with a strong sense of justice and a gang leader aspiring to be a mafia lord. Will such a past ever be revealed to the one who came as a result? GiovannixDelia, AshxMisty, JamesxJessie</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 01: Give me Memories

Ash never thought that when he stopped at Pallet Town, taking a break from his journey, he would be caught up in his mother's spring cleaning. The young man pictured a calm visit in the company of his mother, Delia, his girlfriend, Misty and his dear friend, Brock, albeit a short visit since he had another pokemon tournament to attend soon. It was a small tournament in Viridian City, a tourist attraction more so than an official competition, but it had a nice cash price and Ash was saving up for something important.

He went up the stairs that led to the attic where Misty had disappeared to a few minutes earlier. He snuck up behind the redhead, though he made no effort to hide the sound of his footsteps, he didn't want to startle Misty into dropping the vase she was cleaning. Ash wrapped his arms around Misty's waist and rested his head on her shoulder.

"What do you think?" Misty held up the now clean vase, "your mom mentioned wanting a vase to put flowers in, she thought she had one up here. Could this be the one she was thinking of?"

"It looks right to me," not that Ash saw a huge difference between one vase and another.

"I think it's very pretty," it was not a surprising statement coming from Misty, given that the vase was painted in shades of blue and decorated with ocean waves. "We should show your mom."

"In a few minutes..." Ash kissed her neck.

Misty placed the vase down on top of a pile of boxes, turning around to face Ash, "look who decided to stop ignoring me."

"I wasn't ignoring you, I've just been busy... by the way, I have another tournament coming up," Ash confessed.

"Oh... I haven't heard of any major tournaments, which is it?" Misty inquired.

"It's a small tournament in Viridian City; the shops around the area are sponsoring it, probably to attract tourists. They say the Viridian gym leader will participate in the final match, so the winner of the tournament will have to face him. Do you remember when I got my Earth Badge years ago? It was against Team Rocket, I never saw the Viridian city gym leader," Ash recalled. "Thinking back on it, maybe we should have stayed back there and made sure the real leader was okay, with Team Rocket having taken over the gym like that he might have been hurt. I suppose there's no use in thinking about that now; it looks like everything turned out well in the end after the gym was repaired."

"I see," Misty's face, which had looked a bit tired before, brightened at the explanation. "You want to face the gym leader because you didn't have a chance to battle him before."

"Yeah, plus there's a really good cash price," Ash smiled and Misty frowned. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Ash," she pouted, tired of Ash's seemingly greedy attitude recently. She also felt excluded, as if he was keeping a secret from her, one that Pikachu and the rest of his pokemon knew, but Ash had not shared with her, denying he was hiding anything when she asked.

"Misty..." as she walked away in the crowded attic and he followed, they tripped and pulled each other down when trying to regain their balance, bumping into more boxes and causing an avalanche, thankfully far enough from the vase not to knock it down.

The loud noise summoned Delia to the scene, who found her son and Misty digging themselves out from under the pile of boxes, "are you both alright?" She rushed to help set them free of the avalanche.

"I'm fine, are you okay, Misty?" Ash who had landed on top, was the first to get on his feet, extending his hand to help Misty up.

"Yeah, I'm alright," she accepted the help and observed the disarray of boxes, some of which had been opened by the impact, the old tape unable to hold together after such a long time, spilling their contents on the dusty attic floor. "I hope nothing was broken."

"Don't worry about it," Delia began to sort through the random items, "these boxes have been here for a long time, I've forgotten what's in them by now."

Misty saw a sparkle and picked it up. It was an earring, which had fallen out of an exquisitely decorated golden box with clear crystals. Misty placed the earring back in the box and picked it up, surprised by its weight. "What beautiful rhinestones!" She wondered why such lovely jewelry was stashed up in an attic and not sitting with dignity on Delia's dresser.

"Rhinestones?" Delia looked up with curiosity; she received the heavy box from Misty, who obviously didn't notice it was made of gold, otherwise she would have mentioned it. She must have assumed it was gold painted iron to explain its weight, an accurate imitation of a golden box, but an imitation none the less. That was not the truth and Delia knew it, the box was made of gold and the decorative crystals were diamonds. The jewelry didn't include a single rhinestone; they were all real diamonds, very expensive and very nostalgic. "Oh my, I had almost forgotten these..."

"Shouldn't you keep them in your room? They're very pretty," Misty observed.

"Yes, I should," Delia smiled, forcing the turmoil of emotion that had surfaced to stay calm for just a little longer.

"Mom, who is this?" Ash held up a brown wooden picture frame, it was very average looking, unlike the elegance contained in the image it held.

Delia stared at the picture. For some time, she had that frame in her room, Professor Oak's guest room where she stayed when she first moved to Pallet Town, then her bedroom in the little house she was finally able to afford after establishing the only restaurant in the small town. No one previously thought was sufficiently large to support a food establishment, but it proved to be enough.

In the distant past, she would look at that picture before falling asleep and wonder what he was doing, if he thought of her, if he missed her or if he had moved on. She questioned her choice to leave him and to keep her pregnancy a secret. Then she fell asleep and dreamt of a happy time forever lost to the past, waking up with renewed determination and also renewed regret.

When Ash was born, the little boy soon occupied her dreams with expectations of a bright future. Her son gave her strength because she new he needed her to be strong for him. She still kept the picture in her room, albeit her other mementos had been stored away.

One day, little Ash who was a little over a year old, toddled over to her nightstand and reached for the picture, stretching his little body until he grabbed hold of the edge of the frame and pulled the picture off the table. The behavior was unusual, Ash was certainly a curious little boy, but his mother had taught him to ask, rather than grab things. He listened most of the time, pointing at the object of his curiosity and letting out a stream of hasty baby babble with a few words mixed in.

"Ash, honey, be careful not to break mommy's picture," Delia extended her hand, but Ash didn't give her the picture right away.

Instead the boy curiously looked at it, recognizing the image of his own mother, "mama..." he paused, examining the image of a man next to her. He had been over to Gary's house before, another boy his age; Gary had a grandfather, a mother and a father. "dada?"

Delia should have seen this coming; kids are smarter than they're given credit for. "Yes, that's your dad." She never mentioned his name, but she saw Ash's face brighten at the confirmation, then look puzzled, as if wanting to ask where his father was and being unable to find the words to do so. "He's on a journey, he's a pokemon trainer." From a certain perspective, it was the truth.

Delia didn't directly lie, she instead told Ash bits and pieces of the truth, carefully selected to sound interesting yet ambiguous. Giovanni had started out as a pokemon trainer, traveling from one city to another.

After Ash finally let go of the picture, Delia deemed it too dangerous to keep in such a visible place and put it away. She didn't want Ash to become too curious about his father and search for him when he was old enough to do so but still too young not to be easily convinced. She didn't want Ash getting caught up with the mafia.

It was, as expected, not the end of Ash's questions, far from it, it was only the beginning. When Ash seemed to wonder about the missing picture, Delia would tell him an exciting story about his father and his pokemon and that would keep him entertained. Soon the boy no longer searched for the picture, instead asking for stories.

As Ash grew, the picture he saw as a toddler was forgotten and he came to understand that, though his mother was happy to tell him stories, she had no intentions of revealing the identity of his father, and Ash would feel bad pressuring her. Though he was young, he knew that people didn't live forever; maybe his father had passed away tragically and his mother would be sad if she was pressured to talk about it. However, something in the way his mother spoke hinted that his father was still alive somewhere.

Did they divorce? Did he abandon her? The second theory made little sense to Ash. He would expect his mother to be upset if that was the case, but she didn't speak badly of his father, though she might be sugar coating the stories. Maybe they divorced, handling the situation as adults did and somehow agreeing to go their separate ways. Ash didn't really understand it, but he believed he would when he was older, with that theory, he remained patient.

The subject of his father was one of the few, probably the only, topic in which Ash was patient. The boy was very impatient otherwise and he could be quite stubborn too, much like his father. His curiosity knew no boundaries and he asked about everything, especially pokemon. He was fascinated by the creatures and their mysterious powers.

Strong, independent and with an iron will, Ash reminded Delia of Giovanni in many ways, thus she took extra care in guiding him down the right path and teaching him not to give into the temptation of power.

Years later, that little boy stood before her, now a young man and though he was taller than her now, his eyes still looked at her with the same curiosity of that year old boy who wanted to know his father. The boy who had to settle for ambiguous stories, spoken often, casually and cheerfully, while holding so many untold secrets.

Delia forced herself to smile, "he was my boyfriend," she didn't lie, the picture screamed of a formal date. One with live music, dancing, tuxedos, dresses and jewelry, diamonds... "I should put these away," taking the golden diamond filled box and the picture, Delia turned away. "Oh, the vase, I knew it was around here, thank you for cleaning it!" She picked it up as well and left the attic.

Delia placed the vase on the living room table on her way, glanced out the window at Brock who was hard at work cleaning the carpets in the yard and petted Pikachu as she made her way down the hall to her room. Even the pokemon were helping with the cleaning so it should be done soon.

She closed her room's door and locked it, knowing she would only be able to hold back for so long, then collapsed into a disarray of emotions with quiet sobs. She pushed herself to her feet and placed the jewelry box on the dresser and the picture on the nightstand, refusing to hide the items any longer. Then she let herself fall into bed and buried her face in the pillow, her imagination carrying her to a time so long ago.

She tried to compose herself and got up, walked over to the dresser and retrieved a little black box from the jewelry box and from it a ring. Rhinestone on silver, one would assume at first glance. Yet the sparkle was too brilliant to be false, a diamond, a diamond on white gold, a diamond that large? They would still be wrong.

She slid the platinum diamond ring on her finger; it felt heavy and it reminded her of her sorrow during the occasion that should have been happy. This was the first time she ever wore that ring, but the action could have no significance after so many years.

She saw herself as a young girl, dreaming that one day, her prince would come, handsome and strong, to offer her a diamond ring and ask for her hand in marriage. When she grew up she found that she didn't like diamonds after all, she preferred love.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 02: Give me Excitement

"Mom? Are you alright?" Ash's voice accompanied by his knocking on the door woke Delia from her nap.

She stumbled out of bed in a daze and rushed to open the door to her bedroom. "I fell asleep, sorry about that. I put my guests to work then I doze off, how terrible of me. What time is it? I haven't even started dinner." She tried to sound alert, hiding the numbness that had invaded her.

"It's okay, it's just that it's not like you, are you feeling sick?" Ash asked with concern. He had been ignoring his own questions for many years. He wanted to know more about his father, but told himself it wouldn't hurt to wait. Either way, the man was absent and even if his identity was revealed he would remain absent. Yet Ash couldn't help it but to wonder if that past boyfriend was the one.

Ash had the sensation that he had seen that man before, maybe from far away. Or perhaps it was the picture he had seen too long ago to clearly remember it. He wasn't sure, but he let it go. "Let's go out for dinner, Viridian City is a day away on foot, but it's not so far if we take the car. It may not be as great as Pallet Town's main restaurant, but I think the chef there needs a holiday. Besides, I'm participating in a tournament there tomorrow and the sign ups are on the same day. I want to be there early, why don't we spend the night over at the Pokemon Center?"

Delia laughed; her restaurant was the only one in Pallet Town. "That sounds good, by the way," she lowered her voice to a hushed whisper, "when are you planning to ask Misty?"

"As soon as I have a ring," Ash whispered back.

"Did you lose it?" Delia distinctly remembered Ash showing her the ring he intended to give Misty and her bittersweet euphoria at the realization that her little boy was all grown up and would soon be engaged. Delia was very fond of Misty and would happily welcome her as her daughter.

Ash reached into his pocket and took out a ring, the sapphire centerpiece glittering an endless blue. "It's not good enough."

"Misty wouldn't say that," Delia encouraged.

"I know, she would be happy, but I want to give her something better. I want to give her a diamond, a diamond in a gold ring, no, platinum, a really big diamond. That's why I have to win tomorrow, there's a good cash price and if I add that to my savings, it should be enough to give Misty the ring she deserves," Ash's excitement grew as he pictured the perfect moment for the proposal. It would be by the sea, Misty loved the sea, he would give her the ring as the sun set and the light would bounce off the diamond more beautiful than a million stars, she would be impressed.

Delia's expression darkened, "Ash Ketchum, don't you dare..." Ash was shocked at his mother's serious tone. "Don't you dare ignore Misty for the sake of running off to earn money. She's not like that; you of all people should know it better than anyone. Misty doesn't want a diamond; she wants you to be there for her."

"It's not like I'm abandoning her or anything. She's coming too; she'll watch the tournament and cheer for me like she always does. Then we can all go out together after it's over," Ash smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

"You don't understand..." Delia sighed. She caught Ash glancing at the picture of Giovanni and herself. She remembered that she promised herself that she would one day go find him and explain her sudden disappearance. She would tell him they had a son, as soon as that son was old enough not to be tempted by dreams of power. Ash could handle the truth; she knew he could, though it would be a great strain on him and herself. "I'll tell you about him soon, after the tournament."

"Why not now?" This was as far as Ash had ever gotten to a real answer, and the hope of finally receiving it made him impatient.

"Be patient for just a little longer Ash, it will all make sense soon and I promise you a name this time," Delia assured.

Ash smiled brightly, like a child who was promised candy if he behaved for the day. "Alright, I'll wait a little longer," the truth would not rewrite the years without a father, but it would put the mystery to rest and at that point, that was enough for Ash. Taking one last long look at the picture, Ash led the way to where Misty and Brock were in the yard with the pokemon and they all piled up in Ash's indigo car, on their way to Viridian City.

xoxox xox xoxox

Dinner last night was delicious, but Delia was distracted by her own thoughts, as was Ash, though his cheer was genuine. It was a new day and Ash and his friends were standing in the long sign up line for the pokemon tournament, though only Ash had intentions of entering. They kept each other company and talked to make the wait less boring.

"There are some things I have to take care of; I'll be back as soon as possible," Delia announced.

"Okay, see you later," Ash replied naturally at first, then the wheels in his head turned and he wondered if his mother's sudden need to run some errands had anything to do with her promise to reveal his father's name. He stood frozen, until Misty woke him from his daze because the long line was finally moving forward, albeit at a Slowpoke's pace. He pushed the thoughts and theories away for the moment, he would get his answer soon; his patience would finally pay off.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia made her way through the crowds that had gathered in Viridian City to watch the tournament. She headed towards the gym, walking past the Pokemon Center and remembering a different Pokemon Center from long ago, it was in Cerulean City where they first met.

xoxox xox xoxox

"You've done a wonderful job Delia, thank you for helping so much," the nurse in charge of the Cerulean City Pokemon Center commended. She was a cheerful woman with pink hair, her name was Joy. She had a young daughter who looked a lot like her; the girl's name was Joy as well.

"Thank you!" Delia smiled with equal, if not greater, cheer. She was a young pokemon researcher who had studied under the guidance of Professor Oak at Pallet Town. She was currently doing on internship at the Pokemon Center.

After all the pokemon had gone to sleep, as had Joy and Delia, a gang broke into the center and began to steal pokemon. Delia had coincidentally woken up and went out of her room towards the kitchen to quench her midnight thirst with a glass of cool water. She saw a shadow from the corner of her eyes and thought a pokemon might have gotten out of its pokeball. Maybe the little one was in pain and needed help.

She ventured down the dark halls of the Pokemon Center, searching for the source of the perceived movement. Maybe she had imagined it... Then she saw it, a human figure wearing black clothes stuffing numerous pokeballs into a sack. She wanted to scream in alert, to let Joy know they needed to call the police and to make it clear to the intruder she was not going to allow this.

Before any sounds came from her throat, a hand firmly covered her mouth, while the other held both her hands behind her back. "Idiot, didn't you even see her?" It was a man, judging by his voice and built.

"Sorry boss, I'm done here anyway, these are all of them," the other man, noticeably smaller than her captor, threw the full sack over his shoulder.

"Gather the others, we're leaving, as for you..." before her fate could be decided, Delia bit the man's hand, causing him to let her go.

"Nurse Joy!" Delia screamed as loud as she could. "Call the police, there are thieves stealing the pokemon!"

"Damn it, you'll pay for that!" Ignoring the threat, Delia sprinted after the man with the sack and pushed him to the floor, causing some of the pokeballs to spill out of the sack and roll away.

She slammed his face into the floor hard before the same man from before picked her up, holding her hands behind her again. "Let go of me!" She was noisy, but he wouldn't make the same mistake again. Instead he silenced her by gripping her neck, hard enough to cut the flow of oxygen, but not enough to injure her.

Feeling her consciousness slip away, Delia desperately stomped on the man's foot, he growled in pain, but held her firmly. "Hurry, get out of here, forget the pokeballs just take what's still in the sack," the man ordered. No doubt the nurse had heard the girl yelling and the police must be on their way.

As sirens were heard in the horizon, the gang made a hasty get away, dragging Delia along. When they were far enough from the Pokemon Center, the mysterious man finally let her go; she had been struggling all the way and slowed him down considerably. "I won't let you get away with this!" Delia declared.

"You should be thankful that we're letting you go," the man who had brought her there spoke, he was clearly the leader.

"We're letting her go?" The man with the half empty sack of pokeballs protested, it was his face that had been smashed against the floor after all.

"She'll squeal on us," a woman dressed in the same black attire as the rest of the gang warned.

Delia could see by the moonlight that they all had a red R on their shirts. There were five of them, three men and two women. The leader smirked, almost amused, some might see a handsome man, but Delia only saw a villain. "Maybe you'd like to join us."

"Never!" Delia firmly refused.

"Your loss," the leader walked away, followed by his gang. The man with the sack gave Delia one last bitter look before catching up with his companions.

"I told you I'm not letting you go!" As soon as his back was turned, Delia ripped the sack out of the man's hands and ran away with it.

"Come back here!" He ran after her, only to watch her stop, coming face to face with one of the female gang members, the one who had spoken before.

The woman in black shook her head, "so predictable, I knew you were looking for a chance to steal back those pokemon." She lunged at Delia and started a tug of war with the sack, which was ripped in two, sending the pokeballs to roll all over the ground.

"The pokeballs!" The man who had previously been carrying the sack jumped between the two quarrelling women, intent on solving the problem himself, but quickly retreated after receiving injuries from both sides.

"Dude," the other man, who was witnessing the fight spoke, "you can't like jump between like two fighting girls like that, it's like jumping between like two angry Persians, you know? Like fury swipes, man!"

"Don't just stand there you two, stop her!" The leader commanded, and the pair rushed into action, grabbing Delia's arms one each and holding her firmly back.

The woman who had been fighting with Delia glared angrily, "you'll regret messing with Team Rocket!"

"I'll save those pokemon, what you're doing is wrong, you'll never get away with it!" Delia insisted.

"How ignorant," the leader called out a pokemon, Ivysaur. "Just because something is wrong, doesn't mean you or anyone can make it right. This world is controlled by power, that's all that matters. Vine whip, tie her up!" The pokemon obeyed and Delia was tied up. The leader took out a knife and cut the vines, causing the Ivysaur to cry out in pain, much to Delia's horror, but she was soon silenced when she was called back into its pokeball. He made sure the vines were securely tied around the girl's torso and legs, binding her arms, and preventing her from running. "Let's go."

"We're leaving her like that?" The man who received the most damage that night protested, though it was hard to tell if he wanted revenge or felt pity.

"I said we're leaving, pick up the pokeballs and leave the girl, that's an order." No one dared to question him after that. The four gang members piled the pokeballs uncomfortably in their arms and followed their leader, then the five of them disappeared into the night.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Wait! Wait for me!" The leader stopped and looked back.

"You have got to be kidding me!" One of the women hissed.

"Dude, she's like totally like stubborn, man!" A man commented.

Delia was jumping towards them, still tied up by the vines. She tripped, falling at the leader's feet, but pushed herself back on her feet with difficulty "Let me join your gang."

Before the others could protest, the leader raised his hand in a sign of silence. "What's your goal?"

"The pokemon you stole are ill, there's been an epidemic going around. The purpose of my internship at the Pokemon Center was to study the symptoms and help find a cure for them, that's what most researchers' efforts are going towards right now. You'll need someone to treat them if you're going to sell them or whatever you're planning to do." She gritted her teeth in bitter defeat, "if I can't save them from you, I at least want to care for them. I won't try anything, I won't get myself kicked out of the gang, because if I do, there will be no one there to treat the sick and injured pokemon you steal. Stopping you is beyond my power right now, but I'll keep the pokemon safe until someone does."

"In other words it's a mutually beneficial deal in a sense. You'll help the pokemon and we'll have better merchandise, but it's clear we can't trust you as one of the gang," the leader concluded.

"Take me as a prisoner then," Delia desperately offered.

"You would give away your freedom for the sake of these pokemon? Fine, I'll take you up on your offer," the leader decided.

The leader took out his knife again, making Delia shudder from the memories, and used it to cut her free of the vines. "I want to treat your Ivysaur as well."

"Fine... I'm Giovanni Roketto," he introduced himself, "the leader of Team Rocket, I'll expect you to follow my orders."

"Delia Ketchum," she replied sharply.

"Dudette, my name's like Luke," this man had red hair, ocean blue eyes and suntanned skin. He seemed to emanate a friendly aura, which reassured Delia a little.

"I'm Leah," the woman standing next to him spoke for the first time; she had a gentle voice despite being part of Team Rocket. She had soft brown hair, kind honey colored eyes and fair skin. She seemed quiet and shy.

"Aayla," the other female on the team glared at Delia. She had dark skin, deep violet hair and stunning green eyes. She carried herself in a way that reminded Delia of a Ninetails, elegant, strong and dangerous.

The last man remained silent until Aayla elbowed him, "Binks, my name is Binks," he was a thin and pale man with brown eyes and blond hair.

Delia tried to reassure herself thinking she was on the side of justice, so somehow, she would be alright. Giovanni was wrong, karma was strong and justice would prevail.

"Welcome to Team Rocket," Giovanni's voice carried a hint of sarcasm since she wasn't an official member, but for a split second she felt cool, as if she was joining a secret club. She pushed the silly thoughts away and focused on reality, they were criminals and she had a mission.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 03: Give me Hope

Did anyone see that? No? Good. However, even if no one saw him fall on his face, the fact still stood that Giovanni had indeed face-planted the cold hard floor of the Rocket warehouse. The one who caused him to trip crawled out from under his legs and hurriedly pulled his arm attempting to help him stand up, albeit she almost succeeded in making him lose his balance again.

"I'm so sorry!" Delia tried to wipe away the non-existent dirt from his clothes; the floor was like a mirror since she started taking care of the warehouse. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"I'm fine, but why were you on the floor?" Giovanni inquired, his anger being replaced by puzzlement.

Delia was a diligent worker, resourceful and energetic. She had significantly improved the health of the pokemon since she got there, not that it mattered much. The pokemon were still ill and they would remain ill until a cure was discovered, that was why certain key research laboratories were buying them.

An epidemic had broken out and an antidote was yet to be developed. Under the guise of a friendly caring company, several pokemon research laboratories were racing to find a cure and cash in. As for the origin of the illness, it remained unknown. It was for that reason that Team Rocket was taking the opportunity to steal sick pokemon and gain easy money to fund their various illegal activities, during a time when pokemon battles were becoming rare between gangs due to the shortage of healthy pokemon.

Even if she had no way of curing the pokemon, Delia continued to carefully take care of them day and night, without leaving the warehouse. Giovanni had tested her, leaving the doors unlocked and posting hidden guards out, but she made no attempts to escape.

On one occasion, Binks bitterly reported that Luke had left the door wide open, though Leah was quick to witness that Delia had simply closed it, muttering something about the breeze being too cold. Clearly, she wasn't going anywhere. It was as if the pokemon were more important to her than whatever life she led before.

"I was tired, so I sat down. I guess I must have fallen asleep," Delia explained.

"Don't you have a place to sleep there?" Giovanni pointed to the corner of the warehouse, but found the sleeping bag was occupied by a Persian and she was not moving.

"Persian!" Delia rushed to the pokemon's side and checked her vital signs, it was too late. "If I hadn't fallen asleep, if I had stayed by her side..." Delia began to cry. "She was doing better, I thought it was best to keep her out of the pokeball, I thought it would help her fever if she had more breathing room. She woke up and looked at me, not with that lost look they have when they're sick, she looked right at me, I put the egg she laid yesterday next to her because eggs can't get the virus, it has been proven. I thought that being near her child would give her strength. I tended to her then went to check the pokemon in the pokeballs. I put the last one back and had to sit down, then..."

"If you keep this up you'll end up sick yourself," Giovanni warned.

Delia shook her head, "humans can't catch this," the fact had been proven for certain.

"I don't mean because of the epidemic," Giovanni knew that Delia could be a valuable addition to the team, being such a hard worker. It was clear she intended to stay, so he might as well keep her around. Maybe one day she would get used to this new life and really be a part of Team Rocket. "You'll be living in our hideout now. You're no longer on trial and your skills in treating pokemon and researching their abilities will be useful."

Delia shook her head, though she followed Giovanni out, taking the Persian's egg with her and watched as he locked the warehouse. "I'm going to clean this egg and get supplies. I didn't join to help your organization; I'm here for the pokemon. But lately I've been thinking you're not so bad. Your methods are questionable, but the truth is the Pokemon Center didn't have the resources to treat those pokemon. You're just thinking of profits, but giving those pokemon to the laboratories is their only hope. People often hold on to those they care for selfishly, but letting them go is sometimes for the best, though their trainers will be sad, it was best to send them to the laboratories."

"You're so naive," Giovanni observed.

"Why do you say that? Because I have hope?" Delia herself didn't know how or why she started to change her mind. Perhaps it was all a mental defense to protect herself amidst the crisis. They both got in the car, with Giovanni in the driver's seat, "seatbelt..."

He rolled his eyes but humored her. "The laboratories are not making much progress, that's why they keep asking for more pokemon." That and their methods of research were rather painful for the subjects.

"Even so, they're trying, even if they just want to get rich from an antidote, they're still trying. It's just like Team Rocket, you're lawless vigilantes."

He couldn't help it; Giovanni had to laugh, "vigilantes? Delia, we're criminals aspiring to control the mafia."

"Once you learn of the satisfaction of helping others you'll change your ways and use your power for good. I'll join you for real then, I'll help guide you, I'll be your conscience," Delia offered.

"You'll wake up soon enough," those words from Giovanni were the last spoken during the car ride to the Team Rocket hideout deep in the mountains, west of Cerulean and east of Pewter City.

xoxox xox xoxox

After Delia moved into their hideout, she saw Luke, Leah, Aayla and Binks on a daily basis, along with many other people. Luke and Leah were the easiest to talk to, they weren't really bad, Luke simply craved adventure and Leah followed him. Binks had an undying admiration for Giovanni and Aayla wanted power, though her true motivation was unknown. Most of the others were after power and riches. Most of the time Delia just kept to herself.

"Dudette, it's like broken," Luke held up the pokeball for Delia to examine, she had just walked into the common area of their crowded hideout, only Giovanni had his own room; the others had roommates and she was roomed with Leah and Aayla.

Delia took the pokeball and looked at it from different angles, searching for cracks, "where is it broken?"

"Not the ball, the Shellder, I caught it like yesterday, but its shell is totally cracked. I still caught it because it was alive, I mean like really alive and jumping around, you know?" Luke explained.

"It doesn't have the virus?" Delia was surprised; the epidemic had been spreading fast. "I think I can help with the shell, I'll examine the damage and do my best, then return Shellder as soon as possible."

"You keep it, I have healthy pokemon and they're not broken. If you come with us on missions, you need pokemon." Luke encouraged, his blue eyes shining with hope. Maybe Delia could replace Binks as the third member of their team.

"I'm needed here," Delia declined, "sorry, but I can't join your team right now."

"I'm the leader but it's more like Leah's team, you know?" Luke commented, "she's like the real leader, I just get Binks to listen to her, you know? She's like really smart, you know?"

It was hard to imagine the quiet Leah leading their trio of thieves, which would explain why Luke had to relay the orders. Binks was always muttering about how he should be the leader, he was not the most respected Team Rocket member, and sometimes got picked on, though he tried to keep up a tough guy act. At the time the teams consisted of three people, though Giovanni considered lowering it to two.

Sending members out on solo missions would be risky, save for certain occasions when being found meant a failed mission, even if there was someone there to help. For now they were fine in trios, until their training was improved and two could do what three were needed to accomplish now.

Aayla was the leader of her team, not surprisingly, with two adoring fans constantly arguing among themselves for her attention. She knew how to set them straight and make them work together when it was needed.

Leah had joined Luke and Delia, politely greeting them in a barely audible voice. Luke went on to tell a story about a past mission and commended Delia on her work at their little base.

The three were still talking when the common area suddenly felt silent. The lack of voices in the background made them pause their conversation and look towards the one that called their attention without even having to say a word; it was the boss of Team Rocket, Giovanni.

Giovanni waved his hand nonchalantly, signaling for everyone to go about their business and the multiple conversations were resumed. He walked over to Delia, "I'm going out on an investigation mission, I'm assigning you as my partner; I think you'll find it to be interesting."

Delia was surprised but nodded anyway, "yes..." Giovanni couldn't be taking her to steal pokemon; he knew she would just get in the way. Maybe she was supposed to conduct some kind of research.

"We're leaving right away; pack some clothes, enough for a week. Don't worry about food and supplies, that's been taken care of," Giovanni knew everyone was curious about his mission and wondered if he would have a story to tell them when they returned. "I'll be waiting."

"Yes!" Delia hastily exchanged her goodbyes with Luke and Leah, "see you guys in a week!" then turned towards Giovanni, who was walking back to his room. "Giovanni! My duties at the base and the warehouse, someone will take over while I'm gone, right?"

"Everything is taken care of," Giovanni assured, though Delia wasn't too convinced.

None the less she packed her clothes, consisting of identical Team Rocket uniforms, a few normal clothes just in case, and a water pokemon first aid kit for her new Shellder. She might as well take Shellder along, she felt safer personally making sure he wasn't exposed to catching the virus. She took the egg obtained from Persian as well and hoped Giovanni didn't mind her side projects, more so she hoped she had time to take care of them and complete her research.

Once Delia was ready, she informed Giovanni and they both left in his car. She was yet to know where they were going or about the specifics of their mission, but assumed that Giovanni would explain everything in detail soon. Though the situation was grim, Delia held on to the hope that this mission would hold some kind of key information that would lead to a cure for the virus.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 04: Give me Courage

Giovanni and Delia had been traveling for quite some time. Delia was anxious to treat Shellder, but couldn't do it in the car. The sandy colored egg she had obtained from the Persian sat on her lap.

"I wondered what you did with that egg; I should have known you were taking care of it yourself," Giovanni broke the long silence that had bored him.

"The others are busy, besides, I don't think they want a pokemon egg," Delia explained.

"I'm sure they don't..." the leader agreed.

Delia got the impression Giovanni found the egg to be useless and reminded him, "it will hatch one day."

"I suppose so; it doesn't require too much care, does it?"

"Not really..." After being trusted not to run away and moving to the hideout, Delia was given more freedom. She once went to the Pokemon Center in Cerulean City and reassured nurse Joy that the mysterious gang were vigilantes looking out for the pokemon's well being, so she didn't need to worry. She told Joy she would return to continue her studies in Pallet Town with Professor Oak.

Then she called Professor Oak and told him she had become fascinated with the world outside of her small town home and wanted to journey to do some research in other areas. The professor agreed and encouraged Delia, thinking that she might find something while traveling that could be missed in the Pokemon Centers and laboratories. She felt bad about hiding her true intentions, but told herself it was for a good cause.

"Where are we going?" Delia finally asked, they had been driving for some time and had gone past Cerulean City. They would soon reach the coast.

"To my secret get away," he waited for her reaction.

"Your secret get away?" Delia was puzzled, completely missing the hint. "A research laboratory?"

"No, a beach house," Giovanni revealed.

Delia laughed; she didn't even know Giovanni could make silly sarcastic jokes like that. The problem was he wasn't laughing. "You're not really serious, are you?"

"Why wouldn't I be? Even future mafia lords need vacations every now and then. I've been working hard and so have you. We're going on a little one week holiday, I'm sure you'll-" Delia slammed her fist hard on the dashboard and Giovanni instinctively stomped on the breaks. "What are you doing?!"

To say Delia was furious would be an understatement, "Giovanni Roketto, pokemon are dying."

He decided it was time for a change of tactics, least the mood be ruined further. "I was kidding, we are going to my beach house, but it's for research purposes." The next part was not really a lie, "Luke told me he found healthy pokemon at the beach. Researchers have been looking at the ill pokemon, trying to find a cause and a cure. Maybe looking at healthy pokemon and their environment will reveal new information. I thought you could make comparisons and see what's present in one situation and not in the other."

Delia took a deep breath and calmed down, "I'm sorry for losing my temper; I've just been so stressed about the pokemon and the virus. The thought of taking a vacation when the pokemon need me the most is impossible. I apologize."

"It's alright; just try to relax, you'll do better in your research with a clear mind and don't forget to stay open to the possibilities." Albeit the possibilities he had in mind didn't involve researching pokemon.

"Yes, you're right, I'll try my best." The rest of the way to the beach was calm and quiet.

xoxox xox xoxox

Giovanni and Delia arrived at the secluded little beach house, which stood modest but cozy. "What's first on the schedule?" Delia inquired.

"There is no schedule, just do what you feel you need to do," Giovanni replied with an inviting smile.

"Right, then I'll get started right away. I want to check on Shellder, I'll treat him at the beach, I don't think his condition is really serious and this area should be safe." Said and done, Delia got to work right away.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia was focused on sealing the cracks on Shellder's shell when a shadow indicated that someone was behind her. "Delia..."

"Yes?" She continued focusing on her work without looking up. She recognized the voice as being Giovanni's.

"This..." He extended his hand over her shoulder, holding out a bottle of sun-block where she could see it.

"Oh yes, thank you," she took the bottle and poured some lotion into her hands then proceeded to cover every inch of exposed skin she had. She was still wearing her Team Rocket uniform so that wasn't a lot.

"You know, there's a shop near here that sells beach supplies. You could get a bikini..." Giovanni suggested.

"To go for a swim and take samples of the water for further study? Good idea..." Delia played along, ignoring his real meaning.

"I need sun block too..." he continued.

"I'm done, you can take the bottle back." Delia held the bottle over her shoulder and still refused to look at him. She knew what to expect.

"Aren't you going to help me put it on?" That was the last drop.

Delia stood, seeing that Giovanni was in fact wearing only swim trunks and he had set up a large umbrella, a couple of beach chairs and a cooler near by. She glared at him then pitched the sun-block bottle into the ocean as hard as she could. She then sat next to Shellder and resumed her work.

Instead of getting angry, Giovanni laughed and welcomed the challenge. Delia liked to play hard to get, but she was cute, resourceful and brave, certainly worth the challenge and Giovanni was proud and arrogant enough to believe he could get whatever he wanted. Soon enough, she would come to him.

xoxox xox xoxox

After Shellder was taken care of, Delia started taking samples of the sand. She didn't have the proper equipment to analyze them at the Team Rocket hideout and she still had a lot to learn about the process, but maybe she could send some samples to Professor Oak. She did say she would be researching so it fit her story, as for Team Rocket, this wouldn't put them in any danger of being discovered so she wouldn't get into any big trouble, thus would be allowed to continue caring for their pokemon.

Giovanni was swimming around near by, occasionally glancing at Delia to see if she was looking. She was, but only slightly and with annoyance. Then her expression suddenly changed to alarm when she spotted something big heading towards him. "Get out of the water! There's something behind you, get out quick!"

Knowing that she wouldn't give him a false alert of danger, Giovanni tried to get to shore as fast as he could, but felt something pull him underwater. The creature surfaced along with him, revealing itself to be a Gyarados. The Gyarados roared angrily and looked at Delia who was at the beach, furious at her as well.

Delia couldn't move; she just stood there looking at the Gyarados' mixture of rage and agony. Did she seek shelter in this beach running away from an area that was contaminated by the virus? Were pokemon truly that aware of the epidemic, perhaps more aware than researchers? It was as if the Gyarados was blaming her and Giovanni, blaming all humans for this disaster and assuming they were at the beach to spread it.

"Shellder, shellder!" The smaller pokemon argued with the Gyarados, defending the human who had helped him. The Gyarados roared angrily in return, pained and unforgiving.

"Let him go," Delia pleaded with the Gyarados. "Please let him go! We didn't do anything wrong! We're not the cause of the virus; we're trying to find a cure for it! Please believe me, I'm taking sand and water samples to study them, I'm trying to figure out what's going on."

"Shellder!" The pokemon offered his support, but the Gyarados was too angry to listen to reason.

The Gyarados held Giovanni tightly, her long body wrapped around the uselessly struggling human. For a moment it looked like she would devour him, but Shellder jumped towards the Gyarados trying to tackle her and was caught in the massive pokemon's mouth.

"Shellder, Giovanni!" Delia panicked; she didn't know what to do. What could she do? She had no other pokemon save for the egg inside the house, and she couldn't fight the Gyarados herself, she was far too big and strong. Now the angry sea pokemon had them both. It looked like Shellder was about to be crushed to peaces. "Stay strong Shellder, I'll be right back!"

Delia rushed to the house as fast as she could. She dug through her luggage, searching for that water stone she packed just in case. She found it, ran back and threw the water stone at Shellder. Unfortunately, Gyarados was moving too much in her attempt to find the strength to crush Shellder and the water stone fell to the sea.

Full of determination, Delia dived after it, retrieving the water stone while Shellder still kept Gyarados busy. She surfaced and climbed on to Gyarados' body where the pokemon held Giovanni.

Angered, Gyarados prepared to use a hyper beam, trying to take out the traitorous Shellder that sided with humans and the troublesome humans all at once. When Gyarados aimed, Delia took the opportunity to throw the water stone at Shellder, causing him to evolve into Cloyster. "Aurora beam!"

Cloyster broke free of Gyarados' grip and attacked, defeating the larger pokemon. As Gyarados fell, seemingly unconscious, Delia and Giovanni struggled not to be trapped under her heavy body while Cloyster helped them get to shore.

"Thank you Cloyster, you saved our lives," Delia gave the pokemon her sincere gratitude as she hugged him. "What do you say?" She paused and waited for Giovanni to speak, but he only looked puzzled, "say thank you to Cloyster, he saved our lives!"

"I'm not in the mood to argue, thank you Cloyster." Giovanni couldn't believe what he was saying, though he didn't care too much, it was just to keep Delia calm because he really wasn't in the mood to argue right now.

"Well, it seems Gyarados will need a long rest, we'll be fine for a while. You've done very well; come rest in your pokeball," Delia searched around for the pokeball on the beach and spotted it half buried in the sand. "Cloyster, return!"

"That was close; I didn't think there would be wild Gyarados in this beach."

"She was looking for shelter, or vengeance. She's gone now," Delia felt herself start to cry again, how many had passed away like this.

She noticed Giovanni's confused look, "why are you crying? We're safe now, and you were very brave."

"She's dead; the Gyarados is dead, not just fainted. I didn't want Cloyster to feel bad, so I pretended she just passed out and called him to his pokeball so he wouldn't know. She was fighting the virus, she was weak from it. Cloyster is very strong I'm sure, but to take out a Gyarados capable of using hyper beam in one hit right after evolving? Maybe what really makes Cloyster so strong is that he was able to stay healthy."

Giovanni looked at the still Gyarados. She really was dead, that virus was more powerful than anyone thought. He wondered if it would end up wiping out the existence of pokemon completely. He didn't say that to Delia, she was upset enough as it was. He hugged her and allowed her to get her frustration and sadness out of her system; she had been very helpful after all.

They stayed like that for some time, until Delia calmed down. "I want to take sand and water samples; I also want to sample Gyarados scales and a blood sample. I want to send these samples to Professor Oak; I assure you I won't mention Team Rocket. He thinks I'm traveling around doing research, so this won't seem odd, all the opposite, he might find it odd if I don't share anything from my research with him."

"Alright, I'll trust you to keep Team Rocket a secret." He could trust her, he somehow knew it. "I'll help you get the samples; we better leave after we're done." Delia's connections might prove useful as well.

They quietly got to work collecting the needed samples. While they worked, a Krabby approached them and they noted it looked healthy. The pokemon opposed no resistance to being caught by Delia, as if he had witnessed Cloyster's strength and wished to be trained too.

After the samples were collected, they were packed up, ready to be delivered to Professor Oak. They changed into normal clothes that didn't identify them as being part of Team Rocket and went on their way to Pallet Town.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 05: Give me Passion

"You're not going to try anything, are you?" Delia shot Giovanni a warning glare as the car steadily advanced towards Pallet Town. She recognized she was too honest at times and shouldn't have spoken of Professor Oak so carelessly.

"That depends on what you mean," Giovanni replied coolly.

"I want you to spare Professor Oak's research center. Don't steal from him, don't sabotage, vandalize or do any other bad thing," Delia warned with all seriousness. A part of her, the part that always spoke too late in her mind, went over her possible action if he refused to comply and it was up to her to stop him; there was little she could do.

Giovanni paused, weighing the pros and cons of his possible reply. Delia saw his silence as a good sign; he was considering her words instead of simply refusing to listen to her. Finally he grinned, concluding that maybe there was something he wanted more than pokemon at the moment and his pride wouldn't allow him to rest until he obtained it. "Go out with me."

"Excuse me?" Delia could feel her anger rising at the blackmail.

"I think you heard," Giovanni was looking confident, he had Delia right where he wanted her.

"Is threatening people the only way you can get a date?" Delia pouted indignantly and waited for her words to have their effect. She knew Giovanni was prideful and would not take them well.

"One week," he no longer sounded as calm as before, but his frustration was only a well hidden hint. "I'll stay away from Oak and his pokemon forever and you only need to give me one week, after that you're off the hook. Of course that doesn't mean we have to break up after the week is over."

Delia considered the offer, one week wasn't a long time, but Giovanni was... well, he was a young man like any other and that presented certain difficulties to deal with. Still, if certain lines were not crossed, Delia thought she could deal with it. She played the possible scenarios in her head and thought of what she would do on each one. "No crossing the line," she finally consented.

"What line?" Giovanni knew exactly what she meant, but he asked anyway.

Delia didn't dignify him with a direct answer and instead opted to give him some information. "We can talk as much as you want, granted that it doesn't get in the way of my duties taking care of the pokemon." That was why she followed him after all, she had to right the wrong, turn Team Rocket into a good organization and support the pokemon until that was possible. She knew it would take time, but she was patient.

"Go on..." Giovanni pressed.

"I don't think this is the proper time to take too many breaks so I'm afraid I'll have to decline movie dates and the like. However, we can eat our meals together," She paused, trying to think of a way to make up for the lack of dates. "I'll cook for you whenever you want, I'll make anything you like as long as the ingredients are available."

"I would like to try your cooking," Giovanni agreed thus far, though it wasn't quite enough. "What else?"

"We could..." Delia tried to think of something to say, something that couples did that was still acceptable to a pretend couple. "We can hold hands!"

"What are we, seven years old?" Giovanni wasn't sure if he should be frustrated or amused, but slow and small progress was still progress, he decided to try to be patient. "You could be a little more..." he searched for a word that wouldn't sound too forward to her, "affectionate."

"If you need a hug, I'll give it to you," Delia offered, knowing full well that the bargain wouldn't work.

"And a kiss?" He inquired.

She blushed, which he caught from the corner of his eyes. She was quite the enigma, strong willed but naive, brave but innocent, yet her mix of fury and shyness had its charm. "Don't rush me."

"Don't be so stressed, relax, you weren't this nervous at the beach," back there, she was a fury, but not a nervous fury.

Delia took a deep breath and released it slowly. "I'll try to stay focused on what's important." She wouldn't let him forget the current crisis; this was no time for romance, especially such an imposed romance.

Giovanni shifted uncomfortably, he wanted to say something more, but his skin had been stinging for some time and it was becoming so painful he couldn't concentrate on the conversation.

Noting his discomfort, Delia apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't know it would be so bad."

"What would be?" He shifted again, how annoying.

"The sun burn..." Delia cringed, imagining how much more pain Giovanni would have to endure by the end of the day. His skin was still tender, having been burned recently, but the pain would get worse. "It's because I threw away your sun block, I'm really sorry."

Trying to be brave, Giovanni grinned nonchalantly, "this is nothing, don't worry about it."

xoxox xox xoxox

Though they had plenty of time to rest while sitting in the car after their near death experiences at the beach, the long drive only made Giovanni and Delia more tired. It was night by the time they reached Pewter City and they headed towards a hotel.

While they checked in, Delia gave Giovanni a meaningful glance, followed by a sweet smile and a whispered, "two rooms."

To the lady at the front desk it might have sounded something like 'your room' as if they were deliberately rooming separately for appearances only and had no intentions of spending the night apart. However, the lady showed no indication of having noticed Delia's whisper; she merely pushed up her glasses and maintained her neutral smile, while listening to Giovanni's request for two rooms. He didn't want Delia to throw a fit.

At the doors to their respective rooms, which were side by side, Delia and Giovanni stopped and each waited for the other to say something.

They open their mouths simultaneously and were unanimously interrupted by the growling of their stomachs. "Do you feel like going out to dinner?" Giovanni jumped on the opportunity, pushing away any feelings of silly embarrassment; after all, her stomach was just as loud as his.

Though Delia thought that dating during a crisis was wasting valuable time that could be put towards helping alleviate said crisis, food was still a necessity so she agreed to getting some dinner.

xoxox xox xoxox

Dinner was relatively uneventful though delicious, especially to those with empty stomachs. Delia caught herself several times talking to Giovanni as if her situation with him was not unusual at all. However, she quickly reminded herself to keep her guard up, though it was difficult being so sleepy, which made her distracted.

"Maybe we should get ready for bed; we need to get an early start tomorrow." Before Giovanni could make a comment Delia clarified, "I mean you in your room and me in mine."

xoxox xox xoxox

At the hotel, they once again stood in front of their respective doors. "Don't I get a good night," he stopped, he had decided not to be too direct, to let Delia come to him, he could manage that, it would work. Besides, she was glaring daggers, "hug?"

Delia nodded; seemingly pleased not to be pressured for more, though her glare might have been the reason. She cheerfully, though not too energetically due to the day's activities, walked over to Giovanni and tightly wrapped her arms around him. It took him a second to return the embrace and he was very tense. "Oh my!" The realization sunk in for Delia, "your sunburn, that must have hurt, I'm sorry, I should have known to be more gentle."

"I told you, it's nothing!" Giovanni pulled Delia close for another hug as if to prove that he felt no discomfort, though he certainly did.

"You don't have to push yourself. Get some rest, you'll feel better in a few days and thank you for listening to me during dinner. I want to hear about your life next time."

xoxox xox xoxox

It had been over an hour since they each returned to their respective rooms. Giovanni could clearly hear the shower next door for a while, then the water was shut off and there was silence. He thought that Delia must be able to hear his shower as well on the other side of the thin wall and might not want to be kept awake, but the cool water was soothing so he stayed under it for much longer than he normally would.

What made him finally leave the shower was a knock on the door. "Delia?"

"Sorry to interrupt, but you've been in the shower for a long time, I can tell, I heard you get in. Not to be a nagger but it's not nice to waste so much water; besides, I think I can make you feel better."

In a split second Giovanni was at the door dripping wet with only a towel loosely wrapped around his waist. "Come in," he spoke in his most seductive tone.

"Um... ah..." Delia looked left and right, up and down the hall, then went inside, clutching a white plastic bag. "I hope no one saw me," she muttered under her breath, the scene could easily lend itself to the wrong conclusions.

"No one is going to judge you," Giovanni smiled confidently.

Delia glared, her face bright red in both embarrassment and anger. "Listen here Charmander, if you let that towel fall you'll never have descendants."

"But you-"

"That's not what I'm here for. I went out to get you some medicine for your sun burn!" She shoved the bag at him, it contained various supplies from a near by pharmacy.

"How considerate..." it was a pity she didn't show that same consideration for his pride. He mentally counted to ten, made sure the towel was secure around his waist and told himself to be patient or he would further ruin what little progress they made at dinner. "I didn't mean to jump to conclusions, I'm just..."

"A man?" Delia offered.

"Yes..."

Her voice turned even more fierce, "that's no excuse!" she scolded, "show some self control. Now, if you promise to behave I'll rub some anti-burn cream on your back so you don't have to trouble yourself reaching; that is after you've dried yourself of course. You can take care of the rest, okay?"

"I would like that," she couldn't keep her hands off him, Giovanni assured himself. He went back into the bathroom to dry himself off and decided not to take unnecessary risks angering Delia, thus he emerged wearing pants and sat down, closing his eyes and relaxing.

His bliss didn't last long as he found that the anti-burn cream stung terribly and he was sure Delia was scratching him on purpose, but he refused to show any signs of pain. "I know this will sting," Delia saw through his act, "but you have to put it on, it's super effective. I'll know if you did, I'll be able to see the results tomorrow."

"I will..." He would put it on; she knew he would, because he was stubborn.

Delia grinned, feeling sorry for his pain, but at the same time concluding it was karma. Giovanni cursed his luck, this could be quite enjoyable minus the pain, but sadly, he couldn't even feel Delia's soft hands beyond the sting, though he could certainly feel her nails.

To be Continued

In "Secret of the Unknown" it is mentioned that Delia was Professor Oak's student.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 06: Give me Comfort

When morning came at the little inn in Pewter City, things looked better for Giovanni than they had the night before. That anti-burn cream Delia got him was super effective and he appeared to be fully healed. He took the bottle and examined it closely. He had put it on as promised, she was certainly right about being able to tell if he used it, the difference was as noticeable as day and night. However, his satisfaction was short lived, "this stuff is made for pokemon!"

He found himself pushing back his temper once more, Delia was only trying to help and the cream did result in a little miracle for him. Deciding not to mention his discovery, Giovanni concluded that he wasn't all that curious to know if Delia was aware of the fact the lotion was for pokemon or not. After the morning activities were completed, the pair met out in the hall, coming out of their rooms simultaneously.

"You look good today," Delia suddenly complimented, albeit Giovanni's ego didn't have time to grow before she added, "I told you that anti-burn cream would work, see what happens when you listen to people's well intended advice like a good boy?"

Motherly was a term that described Delia well, she was often motherly towards the other Team Rocket members and specially towards the pokemon, but that was not the mood he wanted her in. Yet he could think of nothing to say before she started down the stairs.

"Giovanni, hurry up or we'll be late!" Giovanni rushed down the stairs to meet Delia, they checked out of the inn and returned to the car.

"It's still early, we could go out for breakfast in a nice restaurant," Giovanni suggested.

"Time is of the essence, but you're right in that we should remember to take care of ourselves. Let's just go to a place that has food ready quickly so we can get on the road again. Pallet Town is still a long way from here; we need to pass through Viridian City first."

"Don't worry, we're making great progress," with Delia in a rush to deliver the samples, there was little time left to take advantage of their deal.

They stopped in front of a fancy restaurant, which Delia declined, "they'll take too long to bring the food. These places are for people who have time to sit and talk while they wait and we don't."

In the end they settled for the breakfast menu of a fast food place and were on the road again soon after.

xoxox xox xoxox

Time passed and they made it to the Viridian Forest fairly quickly. That was the slowest part of the trip since the forest was so thick and no one bothered to take good care of the road. Viridian was the closest major city to Pallet Town, though clear of the abundant trees of the forest, Giovanni knew the road would not be good past the city, no one had much of a reason to go that way anyway.

They were slowly but surely making their way through the forest when the car suddenly jerked violently, causing Giovanni to stomp on the breaks and Delia to close her eyes, clutching the pokemon egg protectively. The car came to a full stop feeling unbalanced. "Great... it looks like a flat tire."

"Did you bring a spare?" Delia certainly hoped he did.

"No, that was the spare; I changed it a few days ago," and forgot to replace it. Things were not looking good for Giovanni.

Even so, Delia didn't lose her optimistic mood. "Viridian City isn't far; we'll get another tire and replace it."

"Right, I'll go get it, wait here," Giovanni got out of the car, silently cursing his luck.

"I'll come too and you should get a spare while you're at it," Delia got out of the car as well.

Their conversation was interrupted by an approaching pokemon loudly calling out, "machoke!" while pointing at them.

"What is it Machoke?" A woman was fast approaching and for a moment Delia feared she was a police officer that somehow knew the leader of Team Rocket would be heading that way, though how she obtained that information would be inexplicable.

The police usually used Growlithe as their main pokemon, but exceptions were not unheard of. "Giovanni, the police!" Delia couldn't be caught like this. For a fleeting moment she considered claiming she had been taken hostage by Giovanni. She had good friends who could vouch for her character and it wasn't an unlikely possibility. Yet she couldn't bring herself to abandon Giovanni. She reached for her pokeballs, adding a plan B hastily in. "Giovanni, take the pokemon and battle the police, if they win, take me hostage and escape." It was wrong to pretend to be a hostage, but she would much rather turn Giovanni into a righteous vigilante than see him imprisoned.

Giovanni shook his head, "Delia, relax, put those pokeballs away. No one knows who we are."

Embarrassed by her sudden panic because of the Machoke's alarm, Delia nodded hurriedly and quickly put the pokeballs away, thankful that that pokemon couldn't talk, thus the Machoke would not be a dangerous witness.

"Oh my, you got a flat tire!" The woman was not wearing a police uniform, nor did she have anything that identified her as an officer.

Delia then understood that the Machoke was only trying to alert his trainer that there were people there who appeared to be in need of assistance. It then sunk in that she had subconsciously gotten into a somewhat criminal mind frame worrying about being caught. She remained lost in thought while Giovanni casually made up a story to tell the woman.

They learned that Machoke's trainer, Amethyst, was the leader of the Viridian City gym, which she had inherited from her father. She was known in the city as a cheerful young woman, with a vast willingness to help others and a bit of a shy side at times. She was also very beautiful with violet eyes and brilliant golden hair.

With some help from Amethyst's Machoke, the flat tire problem was solved swiftly. None the less, one distraction led to another and the group had lunch in Viridian City. Delia didn't want to rush out too quickly, albeit she could come up with a believable normal sounding excuse to be in a hurry, she was still jumpy from her earlier scare and wanted to avoid unnecessary suspicion.

It was when Delia called out Cloyster and Krabby for lunch, apologizing for having woken them up so early for breakfast before, that Giovanni realized she had been taking care of feeding the pokemon all along. She must have gone out to buy pokemon food when she got the anti-burn cream for him and given them dinner later that night. Then they must have had breakfast before Delia exited her room that morning.

Giovanni had all but forgotten about his Ivysaur, which had only been fed once early on the previous day. He considered hiding the pokemon, though if she was too weak to battle that would defeat the purpose of having brought her along for emergencies. Besides, Delia didn't need to know he forgot. He called out Ivysaur who was used to being forgotten and didn't make a fuss about being hungry, though she was certainly happy to have some lunch with the other pokemon.

Delia gave Giovanni a discreet glance, noticing his hand caught in the cookie jar expression, which he found impossible to hide completely. Fortunately, albeit the looks were easy to catch for those who expected them, the silent exchange went unnoticed by Amethyst.

After lunch, the act of friendly travelers was finalized with an expression of gratitude to Amethyst and her Machoke, and Giovanni and Delia were finally on the road to Pallet town once again.

As expected, when they left Viridian City behind, Delia brought up the topic of Ivysaur, but was not too energetic in scolding Giovanni, "please don't let Ivysaur go hungry again."

"Are you alright?"

"Huh?"

"You sound tired, ever since we ran into Amethyst you've been uncomfortable," he paused and allowed his mind to come up with a pleasant theory, though he was smart enough not to voice that he thought, or at least hoped, it was all due to jealousy caused by the false friendly act he put up with Amethyst.

"I panicked back there and it made me realize what it's like to be on the run," Delia confessed.

"We're not on the run; we can go out in the open anywhere. I don't think you know the difference between a mafia organization and a gang of common thieves. Granted that's how we started, but it's not so simple anymore, it stopped being simple since before you joined. We'll be a powerful force, right now we're unknown and by the time they learn who we are, the police won't come after us, they'll know better than to start a war."

His words did the opposite of reassuring Delia, "you're aiming high and in the wrong direction," the second day, today was the second day, she would count yesterday as a full day even if Giovanni didn't like it. In another five days their deal would be off and she would no longer have a criminal boyfriend.

"Delia..." She automatically looked at him, suppressing the need to tell him he should be paying attention to the road instead of her. The path was straight and there was nothing to crash into anyway. "I'll protect you."

She blinked, blushed, then laughed, the last reaction understandably surprising Giovanni. She shook her head and composed herself, "a spy movie, you sounded just like the protagonist of a spy movie." She would never admit that she was laughing herself out of a dreamy daze in which she wanted to believe she was safe.

She just had to keep reminding herself that real life bad boys were not like movie bad boys, and yet, she still held on to the hope of someday making him change his ways. Perhaps she knew he was inevitably destined for power and wanted to make sure that power was used well.

Giovanni wasn't sure if he should be angry or glad. At least Delia was taking things better than he thought, or maybe she was running away from the facts. He concluded that it was useless to go around in circles trying to figure her out, she really was an enigma. "I like spy movies," he tried to guide the conversation into a casual topic.

Delia was all too happy to distract herself from her worries and played along. Soon they relaxed and carried out a normal conversation about movies, music and the like.

xoxox xox xoxox

When they entered Pallet Town, Delia was surprised. She knew it wasn't a very long way from Viridian to Pallet in a car, though pokemon trainers sometimes took up to three days to travel on foot, it was quite possible to make it in one, the delay was probably due to multiple stops along the way to pursue wild pokemon. Still, the remainder of the trip had gone by very quickly.

"Right down the street, there on that little hill," she directed him towards Professor Oak's research lab. Giovanni stopped in front of the stairs leading to the house; the gates had been left open. Delia exited the car, carrying the pokemon egg in one arm and a box full of samples on the other, which she had retrieved from the back of the car. She was half way up the stairs when she stopped and called back at Giovanni, "aren't you coming? You'll get bored waiting in the car for so long."

Giovanni didn't like the sound of this. "You mean you're not just going to drop off the samples?" He knew the answer would be a negative and wasted no time waiting for it before starting up the stairs. Then again, this might be for the best, he would know a little more about the resources and contacts Delia had and how he could use them in the future, this trip had stopped being only a vacation a long time ago.

"I want to take a look at the samples too, hear Professor Oak's opinion and say hi to the pokemon. This place is bigger than it looks; I stayed here for a long time as a student. I'm sure that Professor Oak will have a couple of spare rooms and invite us to stay," Delia explained.

"Fine, have it your way then," he took the box and placed his other arm around her waist, they did have a deal. He was her boyfriend for a week, not her secret boyfriend.

"If you're going to play the boyfriend card, you'll have to be nice to Professor Oak and help out. We'll be busy with the samples so you'll have to help with the pokemon and you need to treat them well."

For all his work, Giovanni felt he wouldn't receive any rewards right away, but having a look around the lab would be good. "Alright, I'll play nice, but try not to extend the visit too much. We should leave tomorrow at the latest." Sometimes he wondered why he was so tolerant with her. Either way; it wouldn't take him long to asset the situation and know what cards he held for later so there was no need to stay for more than a day.

"I'll try; believe me I'm in a hurry to see if we can learn anything from these samples so we will be working as fast as possible."

Delia rang the door bell and noted Professor Oak's solemn expression as he opened the door, which he tried to brighten when he realized who it was. "Delia, welcome back, and you've brought a guest, come in, come in."

Delia was quick to cut to the chase, "you look sad, did something happen? How are the pokemon? Has the epidemic reached here? We collected some samples from the beach east of Cerulean City where a healthy Shellder was found, although there was also a sick Gyarados, but I don't think she was originally from that area. I have water, sand and even scales from the Gyarados. The Shellder is now a Cloyster and I have him with me, as well as a healthy Krabby caught in the same beach. I would also like to conduct a more detailed examination on this pokemon egg, it came from a Persian, she..." Delia sniffled, "passed away..." and started crying, unable to hold back any longer.

Professor Oak feared his expression had been far too easy to read and didn't know what to say. Giovanni resolved to hug Delia quietly until she calmed down, though he was as confused as ever with her outburst. However, neither needed to wait for Oak to tell them the epidemic had reached his lab, it was written all over his face even if he tried to hide it.

Several minutes passed before Delia let out her bottled up stress and became focused again. Professor Oak first examined the egg, confirming that as Delia previously determined, the virus had not been passed from mother to child. Oak then got to work on studying the samples, though Delia's studies had concentrated more on the pokemon directly than on analyzing their environment.

She took Oak's gentle suggestion to take a break and go for a walk in the spacious yard. She didn't want to get in the way and knew he would work faster if he didn't have to explain what he was doing as he went along, this was no time for an academic lecture; he needed to concentrate in his research.

Between the rush, the sadness and the overall drama, Giovanni was eventually introduced, with Delia feeling the obligation to point out he was her boyfriend. Albeit the casual pleasantries were cut short, due to the call of duty to focus on research, for which Giovanni was secretly thankful.

Delia restlessly made her way through the yard, which looked sadly empty with so few healthy pokemon left in the area. "I wish I was an expert in pokemon but my training is far from over, I would just slow him down if I go in there to help Professor Oak." The egg had been left inside the lab along with Cloyster and Krabby for further examinations.

"You've done a lot already, for all we know, this could be the key to solving the mystery of the epidemic," Giovanni consoled her, though it had little effect.

"You may be right, I am naive, but not this much, nothing in life is that easy." For a moment it looked like Delia would suffer a nervous break down and Giovanni could only think of hugging her, though she unexpectedly looked up at him with confidence. "I won't give up, no matter what." Taking a deep breath, she focused on her other mission, trying to turn Giovanni good. Perhaps if she opened her heart to him just a little, she would find him easier to understand and easier to guide towards the right path. "It's a bit empty now, but this place is very beautiful, I enjoyed taking walks here as a student."

Giovanni was surprised by the sudden shift in Delia's mood when she took his hand and started hurrying towards the other side of the grassy fields where there was a little pond. Concluding he would never understand women, he went along with the nicer mood and took the opportunity to relax and take a break from the stress that dominated the majority of their time lately.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 07: Give me Understanding

"Poor pokemon..." As Delia had predicted, Professor Oak did invite them to spend the night over, though he confessed that most of the rooms in the house were occupied by pokemon that were too sick to go into their pokeballs, leaving Delia and Giovanni to share the only available guest room.

Delia had been cheered up a little, spending time relaxing outside, though Giovanni's attempt to charm her with sweet nothings failed miserably, since his nothings were too spicy to be sweet. It only caused Delia to scold him, making use of the Charmander nickname again; which she had decided fit him well. He didn't like it, but that only made it better.

Upon being harshly thrown back into reality, Delia only nodded in a daze, not questioning Oak's assumption until she and Giovanni were inside the room, at which time she rushed out. "Professor Oak! Are you sure you don't have another room?"

Oak laughed lightly, finding renewed hope in the refreshing atmosphere of youth. "Calm down you're an adult, no one is judging you. Besides, I already heard from a colleague who was staying at Pewter City last night. You should have heard him dramatizing over the phone. I told him times change and-"

"No!" Delia snapped; someone had seen her after all. "I mean, I don't, I didn't-"

"Delia honey, calm down, you don't need to worry, it's obvious Professor Oak is a very understanding and open-minded person, an admirable quality, especially for a brilliant researcher," Giovanni grinned victoriously.

"Thank you," Oak was flattered, but Delia knew Giovanni was only complimenting him to encourage his wrong conclusions.

Delia found herself caught in a corner and decided not to allow Giovanni's victory to go to his head. "Thank you for being so understanding," she smiled sugary sweet at Oak, with murder flashing in her eyes and went back into the guest room.

Professor Oak gave Giovanni a look of sympathy, which the younger man caught but did not understand. The researcher left, off to his own room to turn in for the night and Giovanni entered the guest room, hearing the sound of the shower behind the closed door of the annexed bathroom.

He assumed that Delia would be locked in the bathroom for a long time, but she finished fairly quickly and emerged in her pink pajamas, which did not show any skin in a way she would deem unnecessary. She nonchalantly retrieved a brush from the luggage that had been moved inside a little earlier, and began to brush her hair.

Without a word, Giovanni went to take a shower, almost expecting to find some kind of trap somewhere, but found nothing out of place. When he came out, wearing a pair of pajama pants, since he was not stupid enough to come out in a towel given Delia's threat from last time, she found her sitting on the bed reading a book about pokemon, which he assumed she must have borrowed from Professor Oak's personal library.

"Are we going to sleep now?" He had to break the silence. Delia only shook her head. "Are you going to read all night?" She nodded at that.

Judging by her position sitting on the bed and her stubborn resolve, her plan must be to stay up all night and force him to do the same, preventing him from crawling under the covers to block out the light.

"Fine," if it wasn't one thing, it was another, the situation was hopeless at the moment, but tomorrow was another day and Giovanni liked challenges. "Have a nice night of reading; I'll be sleeping on the couch."

xoxox xox xoxox

Giovanni shifted and turned, then sat up in frustration. Professor Oak desperately needed to buy a new couch because the one he had was as hard as an Onix. He caught a glimpse of a shadow approaching in the darkness, illuminated only by the faint light seeping in through the windows from outside. "Delia?"

"You were awake..." it was a statement, rather than a question. She gave him a pillow and blanket, revealing the delivery to be the purpose of her visit. "I know Professor Oak's couch is as hard as an Onix so I felt bad about you sleeping on it. Also, it's not entirely your fault that we ended up sharing, even if we haven't been seen at Pewter City, all the guest rooms are still full."

"It's not so bad, and I'm not tired anyway..."

"You should be, the last few days have been long, but it was nice this afternoon, to forget about my worries for a little while. I just hope a cure can be found soon."

"You really care about pokemon."

"I do..." Almost without realizing it, Delia sat down on the rock hard couch beside Giovanni. "I've always found them to be so cute and charming, but..."

A moment of silence passed, "go on," he encouraged with genuine curiosity, though her tone implied that the next part wouldn't be cheerful.

"You only see them as a source of power," her voice was filled with so much agony that it surprised Giovanni. Why did she care so much? It made no sense to him. "I think they're our friends. What was your first pokemon like?"

"I've forgotten."

"Lies," she didn't believe he would forget his first pokemon, no one could forget something like that.

"It was a Squirtle."

"What happened to it? The truth please."

"I don't have it anymore; I don't know what happened to it."

"It's dead," she concluded.

"How do you know that?" Delia had suddenly become an even bigger enigma to Giovanni.

"You just said you didn't have it, you didn't say you traded it or why you don't have it, so I guessed the worse and you confirmed it," Delia explained, her voice unexpectedly even.

"Alright, I fell for it and now you're going to ask for the full story, aren't you?" Surprisingly, Delia shook her head and it was Giovanni who insisted. "If I don't tell you, you'll assume the worse. I didn't kill it and it didn't die of starvation or exhaustion, even if I did push it a lot. It died in a battle. Gang pokemon battles can get far more violent than any official or casual battle. A lot of the pokemon are drugged to become more powerful for a short time, but in the long run it kills them. That wasn't the case with Blastoise; Squirtle had already evolved at the time. I was confident Blastoise was strong enough to win and sent it out to battle against a Nidoking, it was two on two and Blastoise had already defeated a Primeape. Nidoking was too strong and Blastoise was killed. I sent out a Bulbasaur then, I didn't seriously think I could win, but I wasn't going to give up. Nidoking was overdosed and his strength didn't last much longer, so Bulbasaur won, it's the same Ivysaur I have now."

There was a long silence.

"Delia?"

Tears were silently running down her face, "I feel sorry for Blastoise and even more so for Nidoking. I fear to think of the fate of Primeape, maybe it was the same as Nidoking. Giovanni, please don't do that, if you must see pokemon as power, see their natural power, don't experiment with them; that only hurts them. You faced your opponent with pokemon without illegal enhancements, that much was good, even if you shouldn't have put your pokemon in that situation in the first place."

"You're not angry at me? You're sad about the pokemon, but I thought you would be furious at me."

"Even so, you told me the truth, thank you for that, please feel free to tell me anything, you can trust me, I'll help," she tried to be quiet, she didn't want to disturb the sleeping pokemon or wake Professor Oak.

He hugged her and caressed her hair.

"You're right to say I'm naive, maybe the worse part is that I'm like that by choice. Maybe the truth is that the police can't handle things like that, there's too much going on in the shadows. Maybe that's why I hold on to Team Rocket, because I can't stand to throw away the opportunity to save the pokemon. After the epidemic is resolved, as I have to believe it will be, let's establish Team Rocket firmly and make it good, it doesn't even have to be legal if the law slows it down. It can even be feared; maybe it should be, but let it be feared by the villains, not by the innocent."

"We gather strong Pokemon and gain power and riches, that's all there really is to it."

"Let me believe there's more."

He said nothing more after that, he only held her tightly. She was set in believing what she wanted to believe. Could she really fully adapt to the life style of Team Rocket? She had been struggling, yet thinking she could change their organization, she remained loyal.

She drifted off to sleep without realizing it and he carried her back to the guest room where they slept for the rest of the night.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia was dreaming about something she had not dreamed of in a while. It was the carefree dream of a little girl waiting for her prince. But she was no longer a little girl in her dream and her prince was instead an aspiring mafia lord. However, the rest of the dream played out in the same fashion it had many times before.

She was wearing a pretty dress, surrounded by elegance in a palace. The color and style of her dress varied every time she had the dream, it had been pink, cyan, various shades of blue and even yellow. Yet this was the first time it had appeared in white, it was a strapless dress, decorated with diamonds, with a long flowing skirt, the fabric extending infinitely. She wore a diamond necklace with matching earrings, bracelets and a tiara that sparkled beautifully.

Her prince in a formal black tuxedo; kneeled before her and took her hand, placing a ring on her finger with the most brilliant diamond of all. "My princess, will you marry me?"

She smiled with pure radiant joy, "I will!"

The dream changed instantly, the palace background was gone and instead they were in a church crowded with people. "I now pronounce you husband and wife," the priest announced.

Delia looked at her husband beside her, but she had to look down because he was a little Charmander. Much to her horror, Delia discovered that she was not only getting married to a Charmander, but she was doing so in her pajamas. Despite the lack of formal elegance of her outfit, she still somehow kept all her diamond jewelry, which made her pajamas look even more plain in comparison.

"Char! Char!" Her little husband called out to her and it was the last image Delia saw in her dream before she woke up.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Ah!" Startled, Delia rolled off the bed and fell on the floor.

"Delia!" Giovanni was immediately woken by her sudden yell, but was unable to stop her from falling on time. "Are you alright? Don't be so dramatic, I didn't do anything; I just slept next to you, that's all. If we had stayed on that couch we would be sore all day," he explained as he helped her up.

She nodded; the odd dream still vivid in her mind. "I believe you," she finally assured after a moment. Taking a deep breath, she couldn't help it but to confess the latter portion of her dream, intentionally leaving out the first part. "I had a really strange dream. I was getting married to a Charmander in my pajamas! Can you believe it, getting married in my pajamas?"

"You were marrying a pokemon and you were worried about what you were wearing?" Giovanni couldn't help it but to be amused.

"Of course I was worried about that too!" Delia pouted in embarrassment; then laughed at the sheer silliness of the dream. It was a new day full of hope.

xoxox xox xoxox

The early morning flowed relatively uneventful. Professor Oak returned Cloyster and Krabby after taking blood samples from both. The pokemon, including Ivysaur, were fed and the humans had their breakfast as well.

Delia discussed a few things with Professor Oak concerning the epidemic research; he was especially fascinated by the examination of the Gyarados' scales through the microscope, finding some small differences from the data previously collected from other sick Gyarados and made public to the scientific community.

After they were done talking, Delia got the pokemon egg and said her final goodbyes while Giovanni loaded their luggage back in the car. He pushed himself to put up one final nice boyfriend act and politely say goodbye to Professor Oak, then they were gone.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Back to HQ?" Delia inquired as the car advanced through the rural roads on its way out of Pallet Town.

"There are some things I need to do first."

"Excuses," Delia shook her head. She might be naive, optimistic and trusting, but she was not dumb.

Before Giovanni could reply, his phone rang; he had specifically instructed Aayla when he left her in charge of the hideout not to call unless it was an extreme emergency. "What happened?"

"Dude Giovanni, it's like totally terrible, you know?"

"Luke?"

"Aayla told me to call; she's with the others, like" a gasp for breath, "battling! The Tempest Gang is like totally invading us, man!"

"I'm on my way, hold them off, don't let them get to the warehouse and don't let them take over the hideout!" Giovanni hung up and looked at Delia intently; "hold on, we'll be moving fast."

Delia securely wrapped her arms around the pokemon egg which sat on her lap and Giovanni stepped on the gas until the pedal couldn't go any further. The car roared loudly and sped away recklessly.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 08: Give me Adventure

Giovanni cursed loudly as the side mirror was knocked off his car after brushing against a tree. People's screams as they rushed to get out of the way in Viridian City still echoes in Delia's head. They were pursued by the police for their reckless driving through the city, though fortunately they didn't hit anything or anyone before making it to the forest.

Giovanni knew he couldn't lead the police to the hideout, thus far from slowing down to navigate the forest, he sped up even more. "Are they still after us?"

Delia looked back, trying to perceive any trace of the police through the tick forest, too focused on the rush of the moment to care if they had already seen her face. "I don't see them, but they could catch up."

The empty warning light was bright on the dashboard, Giovanni knew he should have refueled when he had the chance, he intended to stop at Viridian City on the way back from Pallet Town, but he rushed through in his haste and didn't refuel.

Having consumed the last drop of gas, the car finally came to a full stop. "Damn it! Why now?" He punched the steering wheel hard, fortunately missing the horn.

"Because you didn't refuel!" Delia yelled back. A million thoughts ran through her head, about her life as a criminal, because that's what she felt like, about how she could have avoided this, and most of all, about what was happening at the hideout. "The others are in danger, one of the bad gangs is there; our comrades need us!" She wasn't sure where that came from, but she didn't want to picture her friends from Team Rocket or their pokemon getting hurt.

"Growlithe! Growl! Growlithe!" The barking of a pack of Growlithe echoed loudly, fast approaching.  
  
"We have to run," Giovanni dug out a backpack from the back of the car for Delia to put the pokemon egg in it and they both ran through the thick forest.

There was nothing particularly incriminating in the car other than the Team Rocket uniforms, but that didn't matter, Team Rocket was a gang of pokemon thieves, a few driving tickets to their name were nothing.

The barking of the Growlithe became closer and came from multiple directions. "They must have alerted the Pewter City police!" Giovanni concluded; they were trapped from both sides. Maybe they could hide in the thick forest surrounding Viridian until they lost the police, but that would slow them down too much.

"What do we do? I don't want to fight the police," the seriousness of the situation sunk in like a Golem in a pool for Delia and her fighting spirit which came out when they were previously found by Machoke was gone. However, she still didn't want to give up, she didn't want her friends and their pokemon to get hurt; she wanted to help them, even if they were criminals.

"We're too outnumbered anyway, I'll have to take you hostage after all," He took out a knife, "just play along, don't be scared... actually, yes, try to look scared."

"I won't have to put up much of an act for that," Delia stayed perfectly still, allowing Giovanni to hold her hands behind her back and the knife at her throat.

"Stop!" A woman with blue hair wearing a police uniform emerged from beyond the dense flora followed by three men also in police uniforms.

"Don't come any closer or the girl dies!" Giovanni threatened.

Delia gave the officer, whose name happened to be Jenny, an absolutely terrified look, which matched her situation perfectly. Jenny would never guess the source of Delia's fear were the officers, rather than the man holding her hostage.

"Don't do anything rash now," the police was obviously under a lot of tension. Several other officers had caught up, including another blue haired woman identical to the first, who came from the opposite direction. "Just let her go." The Viridian City Jenny kept her voice gentle, hoping not to startle the criminal into slicing the hostage's throat.

Giovanni glanced back for a second, he should have slowed down in the city, but he could only think of the battle that waited against the rival gang and his hasty mistake came at a high price. There were officers and Growlithe all around them, having come from both Viridian and Pewter City. "Stay back, I'm serious!"

Dragging Delia along threateningly, Giovanni made his way out of the circle of officers and through the forest. He knew the officers were following them from a distance, but the hostage situation only allowed them to walk at a slow pace.

When they were far enough not to be seen, though the Growlithe could surely follow their scent with ease, Giovanni released Delia and they ran deep into the forest until they reached a stream.

"Can you swim?" Giovanni hastily asked.

"Yes..." Delia gasped in fright. "Oh, I think I understand; it's to make the trail harder to follow for the Growlithe... Good idea, let's go." Her heart was pounding and she couldn't catch her breath.

"Delia, pull yourself together, you'll drown if you don't calm down," Giovanni urged.

Delia nodded, she didn't know what she was doing anymore and even if Giovanni wasn't really forcing her to follow him, she felt very much like his real hostage. "I'm alright, I can do this."

They jumped into the stream, making use of the current to move faster. They came out down stream and continued their run, exhausted, wet and cold, but with no intentions of stopping.

"Pewter City is up ahead, we'll go around it quietly steal a transport and hurry to the hideout," Giovanni decided.

"We can't steal anything; it's wrong! I found a way to justify taking the pokemon thinking they would be treated better but... oh, what am I doing here anyway?" Delia felt it was too late to question the motives she should have questioned from the start.

"When you see something you think is wrong, you can't leave it alone. You want to carry the weight of the world by yourself, that's why you won't stop following me," Giovanni had been holding her hand since they left the stream, making sure she didn't fall behind or run off on her own, but finally, he let her go. "Stay here if you want, you're just an innocent hostage after all. I trust you won't reveal the location of the hideout; it would cause a lot of trouble for everyone. Go back to Pallet Town; I'll find you when things calm down."

Delia watched Giovanni run towards the outskirts of Pewter City and take cover. She really shouldn't have followed him, every logical and sane brain cell she had was screaming at her not to follow him. Yet he was right about one thing, she couldn't leave this wrong alone, because she knew she could make it right. Thus she followed him, sneaking around, dangerously close to the police station, ready to allow him to take her hostage again if it came to that. "What are you doing?" She whispered.

"They're distracted; I'll steal a motorcycle and get out of here. They sent most of their officers to the forest and left the station almost empty." The opportunity was one of the kind and Giovanni knew it might be his only chance to get away fast. "I guess this is where we go our separate ways."

Giovanni quietly made his way to the motorcycle parking lot outside the station. Someone had conveniently left the keys on the ignition of one of the motorcycles. He slashed the tires of the other vehicles in the parking lot; that should slow them down considerably. He took the donut carelessly left on the seat and threw it away, imagining the face of the officer finding that the donut was there on the ground, but the motorcycle had disappeared.

Delia rushed after Giovanni and sat behind him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist, which took him by surprise. "What are you doing?"

"Chill out Charmander, I just don't want to fall off. You're right, I can't leave things as they are and I'm not letting you get away. Sorry, you're stuck with me; now let's get moving before they see us!" Delia urged. She had decided to follow her instincts and dream she could take on the world.

"Hold on," Giovanni started the engine and the noise caught the attention of the few officers that were left behind at the station, but it was too late, they were already making their get away.

Out of Pewter City and into the mountains they went recklessly fast. They knew they were being followed, but most of the officers were probably still looking for them at the Viridian forest when they made their get away from Pewter City and those at Pewter were left to pursue them on foot without the help of pokemon to trail them.

When the terrain became too rough, they abandoned the motorcycle and continued on foot until they saw smoke. "It's on fire... the hideout is on fire!" Delia yelled.

"Tempest will pay for this!" Giovanni rushed down the mountain towards the area next to the flames, where a pokemon battle was still raging.

The opposing pokemon looked furious, but at the same time lost. What shocked Delia most was that they were wounded but didn't seem to notice and continued to push themselves being ripped apart. "What have they done to those poor pokemon?"

Team Rocket looked like they were in trouble, though Aayla kept insisting that they had to stay strong, "keep battling everyone, the boss will be here soon!"

"I'm already here," Giovanni ran towards the fight. A chorus of his name was heard among the members of Team Rocket as they found renewed strength.

"Sorry boss, the warehouse and the hideout are both up in flames," Aayla apologized. "They outnumber us three to one humans and five to one pokemon."

The odds were clearly against them, but Team Rocket somehow still looked strong after Giovanni had arrived. Some of the members even had the courage to threaten their enemies from the Tempest Gang, certain that their leader's arrival would assure their victory. Delia was both puzzled and amazed, how could they have so much faith in Giovanni?

"We can still win, we won't let them get away with this, Team Rocket doesn't retreat!" Cheers came from Team Rocket as they stood beside Giovanni with confidence, ready to continue the fight.

A man stepped forward from the Tempest Gang; he had cyan hair and eerie yet enthralling red eyes. His body was perfectly proportioned and his face quite handsome. He possessed a unique commanding aura. "Good to see you again Aayla," he mocked.

"Venom," Aayla growled in response, "The Boss is here now; Team Rocket is taking you out!"

"It doesn't look like it," Venom laughed evilly, "you Rocket trash don't know what you're up against. You should be running for your lives!"

Before Giovanni could step forward to answer to the rival gang leader, Delia's voice echoed with the command of "aurora beam!" and Venom was knocked to the ground by Cloyster's attack. "The way you people treat pokemon is terrible, I won't let you get away with it! Krabby use bubble!"

The atmosphere was covered in bubbles and Giovanni make good use of the distraction as well as Delia's strategy, calling out Ivysaur to join the other pokemon. "Everyone attack! Knock out all the trainers!"

"Alright dudes, all's fair in love and war, you know? Let's like throw the rule book out the window, man!" Luke sent his pokemon, Poliwhirl and Tentacool on the offensive.

"This is a bold move Giovanni, it will have repercussions. I take it Delia doesn't know the agreement, that the pokemon fight and the humans can't be attacked until all their pokemon are defeated," Binks complained, while holding his unconscious Rattata protectively.

"We'll do what we have to do to win," Giovanni insisted.

"If this is the choice that has been made, so be it..." Leah quietly accepted it, "Butterfree, use sleep powder on the enemy trainers!"

"It's about time we gave them what they deserve!" Aayla was pleased with the turn the battle had taken, "Ghastly, confuse ray on the trainers!"

"This is an outrage! How dare you?" Venom yelled in anger. "Rhyhorn!" He called his pokemon out of its pokeball. However, before he could command the pokemon to take revenge on Delia, Giovanni made his way through the multitude of confused and groggy Tempest Gant members and delivered a solid punch, effectively knocking a couple of Venom's teeth out. He quickly snatched Rhyhorn's pokeball and called the pokemon back, he would train it as his own later, but it was too soon to expect it to effectively obey right away.

Venom crawled away, shocked and frightened; he was used to relying on his strong chemically enhanced pokemon and had no fighting power of his own. Now his perfect face was ruined. "Retreat!" He started to run away, followed by his gang members.

"You're not going anywhere until you hand over your pokemon!" Delia chased after them, leading Cloyster and Krabby's fierce attack, which brought Krabby to evolve into Kingler during the fight. This was her mission, to save the pokemon from the bad gangs. However, her mission was interrupted by the sound of helicopters...

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 09: Give Me Inspiration

"The police are coming!" Giovanni alerted, "escape plan C!" The Team Rocket members called back their pokemon and scrambled in separate directions to throw off the police, as previously discussed in plan C.

Delia had not been present when the escape plan was explained and she didn't know what to do, but she knew this was trouble. She was trying to save pokemon from an evil gang that the police didn't or couldn't stop, this time Team Rocket were the good guys from her point of view. Besides, those terrible people had set fire to their hideout and warehouse, sacrificing so many pokemon and risking humans. Delia could not forgive them, but with the arrival of the police, she remembered that vigilantes are also outlaws.

"Delia, call them back!" Giovanni urged.

"Cloyster, Kingler, return!" Delia recalled her pokemon and stood unsure until Giovanni took her hand and led her away in a rush; they ventured into the wilderness and disappeared from the view of the police.

They ran like they never ran before for many hours. Night fell and they continued running non-stop. Delia's confusion slowly melted away, she wasn't a criminal, just a vigilante, an outlaw, but not an evil one. She couldn't live in doubt so she forced herself to make up her mind, this was the only option for her now so she embraced it; she couldn't leave her work unfinished.

xoxox xox xoxox

Exhausted, Giovanni and Delia had hastily bought some food and supplies at Celadon City, then promptly left, walking the rest of the way to the meeting point in the coast of the peninsula south of the city. It would be terribly unsafe to stay in the city; it was enough of a risk to enter it, even if it was only to approach a small kiosk in its outskirts, their disheveled state made them look too suspicious.

They had avoided all the main routes, venturing through the wilderness, the shallow scratches all over their bodies and the thorn fabric of their clothes bared witness to the harsh terrain they crossed. No one said the life of a vigilante or a thief was glamorous, at least not now.

Giovanni knew one day he would have minions to do his dirty work while he lounged in a luxurious yacht somewhere near Cinnabar Island. Somehow Delia appeared in the mental picture as well, vacationing with him. She was even braver than he thought; she had been surprising him ever since the incident at the beach east of Cerulean. She was clearly set on turning Team Rocket into a team of vigilantes to protect pokemon, but that aside, she could be cunning and reckless when she wanted to be and he liked that.

"Where is the meeting place? Is it this beach?" It was certainly a desolated region, the rocks near the shore made it impossible to surf or swim, thus the area was rejected by tourists and locals alike. Even so, Delia was expecting a place that was more covered.

"We're almost there, it's just ahead," though Giovanni said that, Delia saw nothing but rocks ahead. "Here's the entrance." Behind a rock formation there was a cave, the rocks kept the tide from invading it, though it would surely flood if the tide rose too much.

"Is it safe?" Delia felt silly asking that question. Of all the things they had been doing lately this had to be the safest.

"It's a big cave, even if it doesn't look it from the entrance. There are some high places inside; if the tide goes up we'll have to go deeper and wait it out, but I don't think that will be necessary in this season," Giovanni assured.

They entered the cave, walked to the higher sub-terrain area and sat down. "I didn't realize how tired I was until I finally sat down. I don't think I'll be able to get up for a while."

"We can rest here, the others should join us soon, our paths are different to throw off pursuers," Giovanni explained.

"I hope they make it here alright. Our poor pokemon must be so hungry and restless. For how long did we run? I lost track of time. Poor pokemon, they must be famished," she paused as if remembering something, "and so must we."

"We must be," he agreed, "it's odd how you forget about those things sometimes."

"You're the one who told me not to let myself get sick," Delia called out her pokemon, reminding Giovanni to let his out as well.

While the pokemon ate from the supplies purchased at Celadon, the pair of humans ate as well, devouring the food as if it were the best they've ever tasted, though they would have thought differently if they weren't so hungry.

"This is a relaxing place," Delia observed after her hunger and thirst had been satisfied. "Sitting here with the sound of the ocean," she closed her eyes, savoring the moment and focusing only on the present. Giovanni placed his arm around her shoulders, pleased that she naturally leaned on him. "How did you find this place?"

"Luke told us about it," Giovanni remembered, "we were talking about were we should meet if for whatever reason we had to escape in an emergency. We decided on moving separately to make it easier to lose anyone after us. Luke suggested this place because he said it was one of his favorite, I chouse it because it's so well hidden."

"What about everyone's escape route? Is it very different?" Delia inquired.

"Yes, but the longest doesn't take more than a day in comparison to the others. We were actually not supposed to be the first to get here judging by distance, but I'm sure everything is fine, we just ran the fastest."

"I hope it's only that. Are you calm because you trust them or because you'd leave them behind?"

"Which do you think?"

"I'll make sure you never abandon a comrade," Delia decided. "You know them well and they look up to you a lot."

"I only know the basic stuff I need to know to put them into a strategy."

"Tell me about them, about our comrades."

Giovanni wasn't sure about the source of Delia's interest, but he told her anyway. "Let's see, Luke is a good pokemon trainer but not a very good strategist. Things that require planning are more Leah's field; she's a big strategist and good at sneaking around, but it's easy to forget she's even there, those two work very well in a team complimenting each other. Binks is kind of clumsy, but he's very loyal and has some good scientific knowledge. Aayla is respected among the team so she's good to relay orders when I'm away, she used to be with Tempest but now she hates them, I don't know the specifics but it looks like a personal grudge against Venom. Either way, the point is she won't betray Team Rocket, that's what really matters."

"Venom is terrible, leading his gang to kill all those defenseless sick pokemon in the warehouse and they're just as bad for following him. The world needs heroes!"

"You need a reality check."

"Believe in yourself just like your team does!" Delia encouraged, with an inexplicable determination.

"You lost me," he wondered where she got all that optimism.

"You are lost, but I found you and I'll show you the way!" Delia insisted. "I know the life of a vigilante won't be easy, but I know you can do it. It's clear the team will follow you and it's your responsibility to lead them well. I'll help in any way I can!"

She had wondered why despite being the leader, he didn't carry many pokemon. There was a shortage of healthy pokemon and he didn't want any of the little sub teams the gang was divided into to go without them. It would not be effective to keep them all to himself during the shortage, it was a good strategy.

He had rushed back to the hideout blowing their cover, a hasty bad move, but it was for a good reason, more casualties might have occurred if they haven't arrived when they did. He might be aiming to be a rich crime lord, but the fact still stood he had the skills and intellect to do something great. She just had to show him how to care, guide him to the light. She would remain by his side and do so.

"I don't know about that, but you did really well back there. You were fearless, also reckless, but we won in the end."

Despite all the negative things that happened, even if there were tragedies that couldn't be forgotten, Delia smiled proudly. She wasn't a weak sheltered girl with nothing but dreams; she was living her life and reaching out for her goals, noble goals of justice for pokemon.

It gave her a certain satisfaction to be recognized. She rested her head on his shoulder, not minding the closeness, she was comfortable and that's all that mattered. Her breathing was even and calm and she drifted off to sleep.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia slowly woke up, she was comfortable and she didn't want to move, but her pillow wasn't a pillow, because pillows don't have a heartbeat. "Hmm..." She finally opened her eyes, Giovanni was still sleeping, his arms tightly wrapped around her.

It must be uncomfortable for him to sleep on the hard cave floor, but he was sleeping soundly none the less, his deep slumber fueled by over-exhaustion. Feeling a bit guilty about using him as a pillow, Delia set her head down again and relaxed, drifting off to sleep once more.

When she woke up again, there was a small fire burning a few feet away with the pokemon sitting around it, but Giovanni was still playing the part of her pillow so he couldn't have started it. Upon closer inspection, she found that he was awake this time, "sorry about that," she got off.

"I don't mind, you can sleep on me whenever you want."

"Chill out Charmander, we have company, who is it?" She curiously inquired, knowing it had to be someone from the team.

"Leah, it shouldn't be long before they keep on arriving. We've been asleep for about twelve hours, though I can't be sure," He sat up and stretched, feeling stiff as an effect of sleeping on the cave floor.

"Well at least I feel refreshed. A warm bubble bath is too much to ask for, but a shower would be nice."

"We are at a beach and I never got to see you in a bikini last time," he reminded.

"I told you to stay cool Charmander," she giggled, no longer feeling the annoyance she did before when he tried to flirt with her.

"By any chance is the Charmander in your dream related to that nickname?" Giovanni inquired with a tone of innocence that hid mischief.

"I'm sure it's just a coincidence," Delia was quick to reply, hiding her blush. "Besides, the dream was blurry, it could have been a Parasect for all I know or maybe it was a Vulpix or a Flareon. Anyway, thanks for making my nap more comfortable. I could give you a massage if you think that will make you feel better. Don't get any ideas I just thought I owed you at least that much."

"How's the party going dudes?" Luke's voice echoed from outside, followed by his cheerful entrance to the cave. "I'm like totally tired, you know? That was a wild fight, man!" Giovanni glared at the interruption, causing the still miraculously energetic Luke to let out a little yelp and rush to another section of the cave as he apologized. "Sorry dudes, I didn't mean to like kill the atmosphere, you know?"

"What atmosphere?" Delia called after Luke, following him to the adjacent section of the cave were Leah was.

"The one he just murdered," Giovanni muttered as he followed Delia, who had seemingly forgotten about her offer to give him a massage.

xoxox xox xoxox

The other members of the team eventually arrived, telling stories of their aching feet and sore bodies. "Like seriously dudes, what are we, old?"

"Shut it Luke," Aayla growled, "anyone would be sore after all that running, but we made it here, we were strong enough, that's what counts."

"Touchy," Luke teased.

Aayla consequently picked up a small stone and threw it at him. The small rock flew over his shoulder like a bullet and shattered upon impact on the cave wall behind him. "The next one won't miss," after Aayla's warning, Luke wisely decided to remain quiet.

"We are homeless," Leah grimaced, though no one really heard her.

Even Aayla who spoke to Leah seconds later missed her comment about their lack of place of residence. "Hey Leah, could you go to Celadon and get a few things," the rest of Aayla's request was a very quiet whisper.

Leah looked like she was about to point out that this was not the time for that, but nodded anyway and snuck out of the cave unnoticed. The team needed to keep up their morale after all.

Tempest was a powerful gang and to see their leader humiliated was a big triumph, one that made them temporarily forget about the possibility of future consequences while they were caught up in the celebration.

Everyone congratulated each other on some special move that had stood out during the chaos. Delia received a lot of praise for her courage in facing Venom; she had been called an inspiration. Predictably, Giovanni got most of the credit for everything despite his late arrival; he gave the team a feeling of security just by being there. Delia understood that better now and regardless of what the future might hold, she knew she had found inspiration in Team Rocket and she would follow it.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 10: Give me Fun

"We're still homeless," Leah pointed out softly while Aayla examined the merchandise she had brought from Celadon City.

Aayla was too caught up looking through the clothes to hear her, she was pleased. "Very nice, oh, I want this one!" She held up the lavender bikini over her thorn clothes confirming it was the right size. "It's perfect, you should try the yellow one, it would match your eyes. Where are the other girls? Call them over."

Team Rocket had gone out of their cave hideout after waiting some time and were mostly sitting outside at the lonely beach, with the exception of Aayla who had called Leah to go inside as soon as she returned from Celadon, so that she may be the first to go over the clothes and bathing suits, having the first choice of what she liked.

"This top... these jeans, oh yes, perfect... I'll take the sandals too; okay that's it for me. Let the girls know these are off limits, I'm going to change and hit the beach, the change room will be, this section here," she pointed towards a small tunnel that led to a dead end and disappeared into its darkness.

"I suppose being homeless isn't bad if we have fun..." Leah picked her clothes, a sunflower sundress and decided to follow Aayla's advice on swimwear. Then she called the other female Team Rocket members to examine the merchandise.

xoxox xox xoxox

In another section of the cave, Luke was looking over a few bags, examining their contents. "This, this or maybe this..." He was thankful that Team Rocket had uniforms when he joined, because he could never make up his mind about what to wear. All the more reason why he would rather spend his days at the beach, there wasn't much to wear there and he didn't have to worry about matching when only one article was involved.

"What are you doing back there Luke?" Just when Giovanni was hoping to get Delia away from the group for a while, Leah had called her, her little voice barely audible, but Delia noticed it anyway.

Giovanni had followed, though Leah shyly pointed out, "guys that way, girls this way," and led Delia away towards the left side of the cave.

Giovanni ventured into the right side of the cave, wondering what this was about and there he found Luke, who looked up from his task with an expression of distress. "Dude, Giovanni, I can't pick, man! It's like totally hard, you know? I'll just take this and think of the rest later." Luke took a pair of bright red swim trunks with yellow flowers out of one of the bags then headed off to the designated change room area.

Giovanni examined the contents of the bag with curiosity. "What is this, a beach party? Who came up with this?" It didn't matter, relaxing at the beach for a while did sound pleasant and it would give him time to think of what to do about their lack of a formal hideout.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Stop giving me that grin, Charmander," Delia pouted and smacked him upside the head. "I'm only putting sun block on you because I don't want you to suffer with sun burn again. Don't get any ideas."

"Whatever you say Delia, I'll be happy to return the favor."

"I mean it!" She half scolded and half laughed.

The scenes around them were cheerful. Luke kept complaining about how he couldn't surf in that area, but even so he didn't stop professing his adoration for the location, his favorite place. "The ocean waves crashing, dudes, it's poetic. The bright sun shining, this like totally relaxes me. Feel that ocean breeze, it's awesome, you know? Even without surfing, I love this place, man!" The blindingly brightly colored lime green frisbee hit him right in the nose, causing him to flail chaotically and trip over his own feet, falling flat on his back on the sand.

"Pay attention Luke!" Aayla called out, while Leah giggled quietly and Binks was relieved that it wasn't him in Luke's place, as it usually was.

"In coming!" Luke jumped to his feet and tossed the frisbee, which collided with Binks' forehead, knocking him down.

"You did that on purpose!" Binks growled as he got up.

"Oh, quit being a baby and throw it!" Aayla scolded.

"You'll pay for that!" Binks started his battle charge towards Luke, but somehow slipped on the sand and fell face first, causing the rest of Team Rocket to erupt in laughter.

"Sorry dude, but that last one, totally not my fault, you know?" Luke joined the laughter as well.

A few additional trips to Celadon had provided the group with more supplies, such as the food currently being cooked in a rustic fire by a newbie member whose name everyone kept forgetting.

Delia couldn't help it but to smile, she was having fun and had forgotten her worries, at least for now. The pokemon played around at the beach, some even making sand castles which many researches would find fascinating to watch, though for now, Delia just thought it was adorable.

"It's your turn..."

"Huh?" She shook her head realizing what Giovanni meant, "I already put on enough sun block, thank you."

"I just wanted to return the favor."

"How kind of you," her voice carried sarcasm but also amusement, though her smile faded when she saw the police car stop at the beach side. She quickly turned her face away, hiding her nervous and worried expression from the blue haired woman who was exiting the car and walking towards them. "Giovanni, the police..."

"Relax," he assured quietly.

Delia observed the scenes around her and the way the rest of Team Rocket acted. Binks had stopped cold, which brought Luke to loudly call out, "you can't catch me!" and snap him out of his daze.

"I'll get you for that!" Binks continued chasing after Luke.

Aayla tossed the frisbee at another member, "heads up, here it comes!" who snapped into attention on time to catch it and see her discreet signal to throw it to someone else.

"Guys, help me out here, they're done and need to be moved away from the fire before they burn!" The designated cook called a few others to form a circle around the fire, taking the meat on a stick barbecue snacks and putting them on plastic plates to cool.

"We should make smores too," someone suggested, "has anyone seen the chocolate?"

"I'll find it," another replied searching through their food supplies, "I saw it around here..."

Someone fell victim to stress, but another member was quick to say, "come sit over here and have some juice, I'm sure that will make your stomachache go away."

They were putting up a good act, appearing as innocent civilians and those who were distracted or alarmed were quickly saved by the others. Delia knew she had to act too. She pretended she was spending the day with her friends at the beach and nothing more, she pretended they had never done anything illegal and she pushed away all worries. She was like an invincible heroine behind a mask; no one could recognize her.

"May I have your attention please?" The officer from Celadon City, who was probably named Jenny and had a look alike daughter named after her, loudly called out. "Attention!"

It took a moment for everyone to look at her; some continued their activities for a few more seconds until she called out the next time. Others were apparently called to attention by their companions and some even looked surprised to see the police woman, as if wondering where she came from and how long she had been standing there. In truth they had all noticed her right away, but it would be odd for people who were supposed to be relaxing at the beach to be so alert.

"Listen up everyone, you can stay here if you want, it's a public beach, but I need to warn you not to attempt cliff diving or surfing. Stay close to the shore and keep an eye on each other. The currents around here can get strong suddenly and you'll get dragged to the rocks, if you crash into them you can be knocked out and drown. Is everyone clear on this?"

A few murmurs were heard before people started answering, "yeah!" "no problem," "relax, we're not kids," "we know that," "don't worry," "thanks for the warning," and other such replies were among them.

When the officer left, muttering something about troublesome college kids, Delia breathed in relief. "That was... it wasn't really a close call after all. She had no idea." The police's communication was slow to none and they weren't followed that far. Getting away like that gave Delia a rush of power. She really did feel like a masked heroine unrecognizable as a civilian; it made her feel invincible.

xoxox xox xoxox

The day at the beach was fun. Aayla had started it out of wanting a holiday and Giovanni allowed it without complaint because he knew it would hold the team together despite the loss of their hideout and merchandise. The night was spent around a bonfire and they slept under the stars.

The next day came and everyone was crowded in the cave for breakfast, most of them possibly because of the unconscious need to feel some sort of roof over their heads after a while. Others joined them following their friends or simply because the majority of the team was gathered there.

They wore their uniforms, though not the same from before. In preparation for the need to use this escape plan imperishable supplies such as equipment, first aid materials and clothes were buried at the beach long ago in a pirate style treasure chest, the location of which was forgotten, but through trial and error it was found. Seeing each other like that, in a sea of flawless black fabric with red R's, seemed to lift their morale, maybe even more than the day at the beach.

Then suddenly, "Nidoking!" "Nidoqueen!" "Roar!" The battle cries echoed as the enemy pokemon rushed to the cave.

"You'll pay for what you've done to me; you'll pay with your lives!" It looked like Venom had no intentions of laying low to recover from the recent battle. The Tempest Gang had tracked down Team Rocket much better than the police ever could and was ready for another fight. "Nidoking, Nidoqueen, attack! Onix bring this place down!"

The large rock pokemon slammed against the crowded cave walls, causing the entire place to shake with great force, its eyes glowing threateningly. The pokemon had been clearly overdosed with chemicals to make it stronger.

"The ground is shaking... it's shaking..." Leah whispered in fright, it was as if she didn't notice anything going on around her, only focusing on the earthquake-like vibrations. "I'm sorry Han, it was my fault..."

"Leah, be careful!" Luke pulled her out of harm's way, saving her from being crushed by the Onix.

Giovanni was shouting orders to pokemon and humans alike, trying to retaliate against Tempest's surprise attack. He knew Tempest would return stronger than before, they had a base to go back to and more pokemon to send out, that's why he tried to avoid another confrontation so soon.

Tempest never ventured into the southern region looking for a fight, this was far from their usual western territory. The north belonged to Team Rocket, the south was no gang's land and the east was controlled by several smaller gangs constantly fighting for power.

With another massive earthquake caused by the rampaging Onix, the cave started coming down and in the chaos, Giovanni and Delia ended up behind a wall of rocks, separated from their pokemon and the rest of the team. From the other side, Luke could be heard, shouting orders to the pokemon, trying to make them regroup after that last attack. Aayla had taken direction of the humans while Leah was still in a panic.

"Boss! Boss!" Binks called desperately.

"My pokemon egg," Delia cried, she couldn't get to it on time during the chaos. "It was in my backpack, what happened to it?"

"Egg..." Binks spotted the aforementioned backpack, which had been miraculously missed by the falling rocks. He as well as the others had gained respect for Delia, despite the events that occurred in their first meeting, thus were more likely to listen to her concerns. "I found it! It looks like it's fine!" Binks called from the other side of the wall.

"Please take care of it!" Delia requested; she then looked at Giovanni, hoping that he had an idea as to how to deal with the situation.

"Everyone needs to get out of this cave!" Tempest was outside, trying to trap them in and make the cave collapse completely. "Break through their forces, attack together, Team Rocket will not be defeated!"

"You heard the boss, and if you didn't he said we have to trash them, let's do this! Rattata, on the attack!" Binks was easily excited, but his Rattata had already been knocked out. "Rattata!" He called her back into her pokeball and recklessly charged forward to fight the enemy with his own hands.

"Giovanni, Delia, we're making an opening and getting out of here!" Aayla called out.

"We'll meet everyone outside!" Giovanni replied, then ventured further into the pitch-black cave along with Delia in hopes of finding another exit.  
  
To be Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon.
> 
> Fantasy Bit: http://mikari.piratesboard.net
> 
> Deviant Art: http://mikaristar.deviantart.com
> 
> Fanart Central: http://fanart-central.net/user/AzureMikari/


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 3

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 11: Give me Strength

"Giovanni?" Delia called unsure, she couldn't see anything.

"I'm here," why would she doubt it? He was holding her hand so they wouldn't be separated in the darkness.

"I know, I just... it's so quiet." The Tempest Gang had attacked their temporary beach-side cave hideout and a raged battle began. At first, Delia could hear the echoes of the fight, even when they began to move away from the collapsed wall of rocks to find another way out of the cavern before they became permanently trapped, but that was over now.

They could no longer hear the noises or feel the earthquakes, which meant the battle inside the cave had ended, though surely it still went on outside, too far to be perceived from their current distance. They were certain that the team made it out, it was the only possibility either of them was willing to accept, Team Rocket wouldn't be defeated so easily, no matter what the Tempest Gang did, they would stay strong. "We'll find a way out."

"I hope so," Delia closed her eyes, she couldn't see anything anyway, and tried to focus on sound, seeking to perceive any sign of a way out. "Do you hear that?"

Giovanni stopped and listened, the soft sound of running water ringing out clearer undisturbed by the sound of their footsteps, "an underground river." They continued carefully, testing the ground, knowing the river was close by judging by the sound, until they got to the edge. Giovanni reached into the water feeling the currents. "This water has to go to the sea, it should lead us out, but the currents are strong."

They couldn't lose now, not when Delia realized how strong Team Rocket was, not when she was feeling so invincible. "I can swim." Normally, she would think twice about jumping into an underground river in the darkness, but they had no time to waste, they had to join their comrades. Team Rocket needed its leader and Delia would be there to help them defeat the evil Tempest Gang as well. "We can make it, I know we can!"

"Then let's go, hold on." They jumped into the river together, being carried away by the strong current. It was very difficult, but they held on to each other, having only fleeting chances to surface against the deadly water to capture small portions of much needed oxygen. It was a life threatening situation many would call terrifying, being so close to drowning in the darkness, pushed by the water and dragged down constantly, not knowing when it would end or how it would end. It was reckless, but those who felt they had all the strength in the world had little room for fear.

Finally, the water turned shallow and the current weakened as the river was spread into many tiny underground streams that had plenty of room to flow and no pressure to make them harsh. With a rush of adrenaline, speedy heartbeats and labored breaths, Giovanni and Delia emerged, wet cold and a little bruised, but alive and energetic despite the recent events.

"We made it... I knew we would..." She was the heroine, the vigilante, she was invincible and so was he. They could not be caught, they could not be defeated, they were Team Rocket.

"That wasn't so bad... it was refreshing..." To look at danger in the face so many times and each time come out victorious, maybe no danger was too great after all.

They examined this new section of the cave. The light was faint, filtering through the cracks in the cave's ceiling, but it was just enough to see, with their eyes having become adjusted to the darkness as well as human eyes could. "The exit has to be close by," a sudden growl made Delia turn towards the sound, "was that a pokemon?"

"It sounds like it's coming this way, but it can't be from Tempest, there's no way they would know we would end up here," Giovanni was sure the Tempest Gang was still at the area at the beach outside the cave. They had to have their hands full with the battle, there was no way they could spare a pokemon to send after them and even less likely that they would be so easily found. "It has to be a wild pokemon." 

Giovanni was right as a wild Graveler came into view. "It looks angry," Delia observed. They had no pokemon to battle it, but they wouldn't lose, not now and not ever. She searched her pockets for an empty pokeball she had taken that morning from the supplies, just in case. "I have a pokeball, but I don't think it'll work when he's so strong."

The Graveler charged at them angrily and they dashed in opposite directions, leaving the furious pokemon to slam against the cave wall. "If we could just get him into the water," Giovanni tried to think of a way and though the pokemon was angry enough to recklessly charge walls; it seemed to be sufficiently conscious of its weakness not to approach the cluster of small streams.

They dashed away from the Graveler meeting in the other side of the cave chamber, trying to think of a way to trick the Graveler into approaching the water. "We can do it; we can't let our pokemon do all the fighting all the time."

"You're more reckless than I thought, I like it. Alright, I'll take it on," Giovanni went on the attack, running towards the surprised Graveler, it expected the humans to keep trying to avoid him and attempting to escape.

"Mega punch!" Delia called out as Giovanni attacked the astonished pokemon.

His fist slammed hard into the pokemon's solid surface, a trickle of blood dripping between his knuckles staining his white glove, but he didn't flinch. 

The Graveler stepped back, flailing its arms, it certainly didn't expect to have to fight humans, let alone such a strong human. "Tackle!" Delia rushed over full speed. 

Taking the opportunity now that the Graveler was dazed by the unexpected attack, Giovanni and Delia ran into him together, pushing the heavy pokemon towards the shallow waters near by. The Graveler roared loudly in protest being exposed to the water. 

"Finish it off with mega kick!" Delia called out.

Giovanni kicked the Graveler hard and the previously ferocious rock pokemon fainted defeated.

"Pokeball, go!" Delia tossed the pokeball at the Graveler and captured it. "We did it! We did it!"

"No one can beat me; Team Rocket is ready to take on the world!" Giovanni enjoyed the victorious battle, momentarily forgetting that the war was not over.

Delia picked up the pokeball which now contained Graveler and gave it to Giovanni. "It's yours since you did most of the work playing the part of the pokemon."

Giovanni accepted the pokeball, "it takes a strong trainer to keep up with a strong pokemon," he pulled Delia close suddenly and stole a kiss. 

"You may battle like a fighter type but you're still Charmander," Delia whispered under her breath, though she opposed no resistance when he kissed her again, caught in the feeling of victory and the rush of invincibility.

"Score!"

"Shh!"

"Sorry dudes..."

Giovanni and Delia quickly parted, searching for the source of the voices with the scarce light that filtered into the cave. "For how long have you been there?" Giovanni demanded to know.

"Um..." Luke thought he had said enough for the time being.

It was Aayla who stepped forward to answer. "Around the time Delia said mega punch."

The confession was followed by cheers from the crowd at the entrance to the cave chamber. Some just yelled in joy, various cheered for Team Rocket and their boss, and others professed their loyalty and admiration.

Binks stepped forward, handing Delia back her pokemon egg as if he had been awarded the greatest honor by being able to carry it for a while.

"I have news," Aayla was pleased to inform, "The Tempest Gang is in big trouble, after a while their super strong pokemon started fainting and some looked like they were in a very critical condition, they must have overdosed them too much. With so many pokemon sick and injured, I'm sure their forces are very weak. They went on the run, probably back to their base. Leah is tracking them and will meet us in point A." 

Leah had wanted to make up for her panic during the attack and also wanted to get away for a while after her terror for earthquakes was revealed. Plus she was the sneakiest and most easily overlooked, also being a great strategist, she was ideal for a tracking mission that required no confrontations.

Delia was shocked by the revelation and most of all angered at Tempest, thinking about their poor pokemon. Giovanni saw this as the perfect opportunity to finish off the Tempest Gang once and for all. "Now is the time to take them down. Team Rocket will storm the Tempest Gang base and make it our own!"

xoxox xox xoxox

Team Rocket advanced towards Viridian City, since the Tempest Gang had headed in that general direction. After the hostage situation reported in the forest, it was suspicious that they would go that way, there might still be police officers searching the area, if only to calm the citizens of Viridian City. None the less, that was where their prey headed and they would follow until they crushed their enemy.

They met in the outskirts of the city, deep in the forest on the spot they would have gone to if escape plan A had been put into effect. Leah was waiting there with the news. "The Tempest Gang's headquarters," Leah spoke softly, but this time everyone heard her, "is the Viridian City Gym." Gasps of surprise were shared by a few, while others simply stared.

Suddenly it all made sense to Giovanni. Amethyst must have been with the Tempest Gang all along. She must have recognized them with information from Venom. She played nice to delay them so that the Tempest Gang could plan an attack while the leader of Team Rocket was away. "We need to get them as soon as possible; we can't give them time to recover! It's too much of a risk doing the day, we'll attack tonight."

There was unanimous agreement among Team Rocket, but for the time being all they could do was wait. Leah made another trip to Viridian, returning with food and drinks. While a few stood guard around the area, the others slept and rested. They had traveled for a long time to the forest and they had to regain their strength for their next mission.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 12: Give me Friendship

Hiding in the Viridian Forest, Delia couldn't decide if she was restless or excited. She snuck away from the group for a while, to join Leah in her lonely spot not too far away. "Are you alright? Maybe you should sleep; we have an important mission tonight."

"I shouldn't have panicked," Leah spoke softly. "I thought I was over that."

"It's alright," Delia consoled, "everyone has their own fears."

"I won't let it happen again; somehow I won't, because I'll forget," Delia wasn't sure what Leah was talking about, maybe it was something in her past.

Aayla soon joined them, releasing Haunter from his pokeball. "Ghastly evolved into Haunter during that last fight with Tempest so he should be stronger now, but what if it's too much?" The conversation puzzled Delia.

"Please proceed," Leah requested. Aayla glanced at Delia and Leah nodded, "it's alright, I don't mind if Delia knows."

"Okay, here goes, Haunter you remember how to do it, right? Just like before, use hypnosis on Leah," Aayla commanded.

Delia watched in surprise as Leah was willingly hypnotized by Haunter. When the hypnosis was over, Leah looked calmer; any sign of being upset was gone. "Thank you," she smiled, "I feel much better now. I'm going to get some sleep so I'm ready for the mission."

"Got it, go get some rest," Aayla recalled Haunter into his pokeball and glanced around, confirming that the tree they were sitting under had shielded them well enough from the guards. They were all teammates and Leah was slowly starting to become more open, but it was not good if unnecessary questions were asked.

"Aayla..." Delia's expression was full of puzzlement after Leah had left.

Aayla shook her head as if disapproving her own actions. "She wants to believe they're the same; that Han never died or perhaps never existed."

Delia grew more perplexed, "Han?"

"She said it was okay for you to know, that means she wants me to tell you. I know it doesn't look it at first glance, but Leah and I are good friends," Aayla explained. "It's the same as it was with you; I thought she was weak until she proved what a good strategist she is. You've proven yourself too, you're brave and resourceful, but also kind and loyal; that's why you have my respect."

"Thank you," Delia smiled, "to be honest I thought you were intimidating at first, but now I think you're really cool and I admire you."

"Thanks, but I think your coolness surpasses all, I'll never forget seeing the boss being used as a pokemon. That only made everyone idolize him more, but I also realized he was right, a strong pokemon needs a strong trainer. I think everyone is seeing that in you too, that determination that makes us feel like we're invincible, that's what they see in Giovanni."

"My opinion of him was pretty bad at first but I think I've gotten to like him little by little," Delia's restlessness seemed to evaporate talking to Aayla so casually, but she was still curious about Leah.

As if seeing the question written on Delia's face, Aayla revealed the full story. "Leah is shy, it took a lot for her to tell me her story and ask for help. You've earned her trust, but it's still hard for her to talk to people about her past so that's why she wanted me to tell you, she wouldn't have let you witness that if she didn't."

Delia listened intently.

"Leah used to live at Fuchsia City and went vacationing all over the world often; she was from a rather privileged family. She met Han in Cinnabar Island and they became friends, then a couple. Han was Luke's identical twin brother; Han, like his brother, loved adventure. One day, Han and Leah were planning to explore a cave, but Luke had a bad feeling about it. Leah brushed it off and they went. That day there was an earthquake which caused a cave in and I don't know the full details, but Han died. She felt guilty and heartbroken, as if it was all her fault for not listening to Luke and because Han tried to protect her," Aayla revealed.

When Delia had become curious about the reason behind Leah's request to be hypnotized, she didn't expect such a tragedy to be revealed. She was guessing that it was to help her relax or something like that. "I had no idea..."

"You know what they say, everyone has their own past. What about yours?" Aayla asked.

"My past is nothing complicated. I lived a normal life without any big problems. As soon as I was old enough, I started studying pokemon with Professor Oak at Pallet Town. I was doing an internship at the Pokemon Center in Cerulean City when we first met and you know the rest."

"How dull, I bet you're really having fun now," Aayla laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

"I never thought I would be having so many adventures, I never thought it was even possible. Maybe deep down I've always longed to be some kind of heroine and that's why I had to follow you guys. I thought you were the villains I had to stop, but that has changed a lot now. You're the good guys, the Tempest Gang is bad. What about your past?"

"I've always been a troublemaker for as long as I can remember. Then I hooked up with Tempest and thought I found my place," Aayla confessed. "I was Venom's second in command," not to mention his lover, but Aayla decided no one needed to know that part. "I did a lot for the Tempest Gang, then one day they abandoned me to be caught by the police at the Pokemon Center in Pewter City when we were stealing the pokemon. I'll never forget what Venom said 'a big sacrifice is justified by a bigger reward,' I don't know what that meant but he betrayed me. I managed to escape on my own and I'm out for revenge. I hate Tempest, that's why I joined Team Rocket."

Aayla's was another past story that made Delia very different in comparison, as if she came from a sheltered world and perhaps she did. "Wow, I don't know what to say, everyone has such complex pasts."

"Everyone? You've only heard two, three if you count Luke since his past is linked to Leah's. I bet Binks' past is simple," Aayla theorized.

"I wonder..." They nodded in agreement and went to find Binks. 

Binks was brushing his precious Rattata. The pokemon was quite weak but Binks adored it. He looked up at the approaching women as he sat on the ground and began to get nervous when they stood left and right of him. "Are you two here to beat me up?"

"Of course not," Delia assured. "We're just curious about your past."

"My past?" Binks looked confused.

"Yeah, how did you join Team Rocket and why?" Aayla elaborated.

"That's easy, I joined to be strong! I originally wanted to be a researcher but the professors with whom I tried to apprentice always ended up firing me. I got nervous and dropped things; they said I was too clumsy. Whenever I tried to catch a pokemon to study it on my own, it would beat me up; I didn't have any pokemon to send to battle so I fought them myself. It's not that I never had any pokemon, it's just that the pokemon I was given would beat me up and run away when I called them out to battle," Binks confessed in embarrassment.

"How pathetic," Aayla commented.

"But you're doing better now!" Delia tried to cheer him up.

"Yeah, I guess I am," Binks saw a ray of hope again. "One day I saw a bunch of Rattata that were picking on another Rattata. I felt sorry for her so I jumped to the rescue and got beat up, but thanks to the distraction, this Rattata got away. She later returned as if to thank me and we've been together ever since."

"So how did you end up in Team Rocket?" Aayla repeated.

"Oh well, it was random. I just ran into Giovanni one day, well not literally, more like I saw him and thought he looked dangerous, like a gang boss. He looked strong so I thought he would beat me up, that's what all the tough guys I was unfortunate enough to find did. But he didn't beat me up; he just kept walking as if he didn't see me!" Binks was somehow filled with adoration.

"He probably didn't see you or thought you weren't worth it," Aayla concluded.

"I don't know, but it was really cool to cross paths with someone who looked so strong and not get beat up. I wanted to be strong too, that's why I ran after him and said 'please let me join you to become strong like you!' he laughed at me so I thought for sure he was going to beat me up, but he didn't. He let me tag along and join the gang, Luke and Leah were already there, then Aayla joined, then a bunch of other people joined and then Delia joined and who knows who else will join," Binks was full of hope for the future, though the path to accomplishing his goal of becoming strong was unclear, all he knew was that he would stay with Team Rocket.

"There you have it, a pathetic and dull past, I told you they weren't all tragic, well it was kind of tragic, but in a different way," Aayla shook her head at Binks, she expected something uncool, but this was pitiful. "I'll be getting some rest now, see you around."

"See ya," Delia watched Aayla walk away, feeling a little closer to her as a friend, it was the same for Leah, Luke and Binks now that she knew more about their origins. "Bye Binks, I'll see you on the mission briefing."

"Yeah, I'll be there!" Binks cheered.

Delia spotted Luke talking to his pokemon, both of which had evolved, and walked over to him. "Wow, your pokemon look strong!"

"Dudette, they totally are, they're like fully evolved, you know?" Luke appeared to be very eager to try out his pokemon's new strength. "Tentacool evolved into Tentacruel like fighting the Tempest Gang, you know? Aayla's Ghastly like evolved into Haunter too, you know? It was like totally awesome, man!"

"The team's pokemon are so much stronger now, this is great," Delia was filled with confidence. 

"It sure is, dudette!" Luke smiled brightly. "I like found a water stone for Poliwhirl to evolve into Poliwrath, you know? It was like in the chest where the uniforms were at the beach, I like totally forgot I saved it there, you know? Man, those guys messed up my fav place, they'll like totally pay!"

"They will, we'll make it happen!" Delia wished the time to turn the tides in their favor would come fast. Those terrible criminals from the Tempest Gang couldn't be allowed to cause more damage.

"You like totally said it, dudette!" Luke seemed cheerful one second, then sad the next, "I hope Leah's like alright and I hope she can like become stronger, you know? Move on, man."

"Move on?" Delia wondered if Luke knew about the hypnotism, but if he did, how could he allow that? Aayla wasn't really helping Leah by encouraging it either. Perhaps they just didn't want to see Leah in pain and did whatever they could to help, even if it didn't help in the long run.

"Sorry dudette, I like have a big mouth, you know?" Luke wanted to take his words back.

Delia already knew about Leah's past so she assured him that he had not revealed too much, "I know about Leah and about Han."

"Oh, you know?" Luke was a bit surprised but also felt relief. "I'm like a memento," he observed Delia's puzzled expression. "I'm like a reminder of my brother, I think, because we were like totally the copy of each other. It was hard, you know? Like losing my other half, but Leah's worse off, she can't face it. I don't mind having her around, but I totally don't want to be like used to like replace my brother's memory, you know?"

"It'll be okay, we'll help her through it. When this battle is over and we have a little time to ourselves, you, Aayla and I will help Leah!" Delia encouraged.

"Thanks dudette, but Aayla? Does she like even get along with Leah?" Luke was surprised by that.

Delia was even more so perplexed because he didn't know, "they're better friends than it looks," clearly Luke was unaware of the hypnotism part and Delia kept it a secret. When peace was restored to their world, they would make everything right little by little, until each of them had their happy ending; that was what Delia believed.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 13: Give me Honesty

It was after talking to several of her teammates that Delia realized how much knowledge she had been missing before. She still didn't know anything about Giovanni's past and she was intent on finding out. She spotted him not far away, at the same time he saw her. They closed the distance meeting half way, "I was looking for you."

"So was I," he replied, "for a second I thought you ran off."

"If I was going to run away, I would have done it a long time ago. I'm not leaving the team," Delia assured.

Giovanni was pleased by her eagerness, "that's good, but I was actually worried that you ran off to take on the enemy by yourself. You're full of surprises."

Delia laughed, she surprised even herself sometimes. "Can we go a little way into the forest, not too far, just..."

"Somewhere more private?" He offered and she nodded. They walked a short distance away from the group, but not too far to leave their general area, it was just enough distance not to have eavesdroppers. 

They sat under a tree close to each other, though Delia was quick to make a clarification, "stay cool Charmander, I asked you to come with me so I could ask you something."

He wondered what she could possibly want to ask about. Many possibilities came to mind, but he found them all unlikely, "what is it?"

"Will you tell me about your past?" Delia wondered if it was supposed to be a secret for some reason.

"My past?"

"Yes, for example, where were you born?" Delia elaborated, throwing out a basic question.

"Saffron City," Giovanni replied easily, proving that at least that piece of information was not a big secret.

Delia nodded and waited, but Giovanni only looked at her a little puzzled, "what else can you tell me about your past? Do you have family in Saffron City?"

"We don't really get along," Giovanni paused coming to a realization, "you really don't know... Most gangs on the street already know this, but I guess you grew up differently. It's no big secret, my mother is known as Madame Boss in the eastern region, a lot of the smaller gangs there work for her even if they're not an official part of her organization. She's mostly occupied with trading goods and isn't interested in unifying the gangs and establishing real power. I left to form my own organization, everyone thought I would take over her position, but I can obtain my own power. I've cut all ties with her side of the black market. As for my father, I never met him."

Madame Boss, the name sounded familiar, some kind of lady from the mafia? Had her name been spoken on the news before? "It must have been difficult to grow up like that..."

"Maybe by your definition."

"My definition?" Delia didn't think her definition of a difficult childhood was much different from anyone else's.

"You were pretty sheltered," he reminded as a matter of fact.

She sighed remembering her life when it was devoid of adventure. "I suppose you're right. Tell me the truth, when you first saw me, what did you think of me? Be honest."

Giovanni remembered their first meeting, "I thought you were weak but had some guts at least. Then when you came after us and insisted on joining I thought you were either crazy or stupid, maybe both."

"Hey!" She punched him on the arm and pouted, though she then laughed, "thanks for your honesty, what else? When did that improve?"

"You worked really hard caring for the pokemon; that was helpful for Team Rocket. Why was it that you didn't escape?"

"If I wasn't there to care for the pokemon, who would? Someone has to set things right," Delia remembered she was trapped, locked up at first, but more so prisoner of the call of duty to have mercy on those pokemon. She remembered feeling desperate at some point, but it all went away when she started looking at Team Rocket from a different point of view. Maybe she overanalyzed everything far too many times or perhaps it was true that there was no good or bad in the world, no right or wrong, only different points of view.

"After a while, I saw you as useful," Giovanni continued. His voice brought Delia back to the present and the memories faded away. Waking up she felt his warmth next to her and cuddled closer, not because she was cold, but perhaps unconsciously seeking comfort. "And cute," he finished.

"I think I noticed that," Delia remembered the time when her unwilling beach holiday was interrupted by Gyarados. 

"You've proven to be brave and kind of reckless, it's not what I expected for someone who has such a kind side, you're pretty hard to figure out sometimes, but I've enjoyed your surprises," Giovanni admitted.

"There were many times when I was scared," Delia confessed, "we didn't have the best first meeting, I thought you were evil. I didn't like you at all at first, I thought you were terrible, but I guess I was too busy being afraid for the pokemon to be afraid for myself. Then I realized you were more than just a careless pokemon trained and gang leader..."

"What was I then?" 

Though he expected her description to turn more pleasant at that time, it did not, "an egotistical jerk... but that improved later. When the police chased us I was really scared, but not of you, I was scared of the police and most of all myself."

"Yourself?" That was unexpected.

She nodded, "I doubted that I was doing the right thing by challenging the law like that, but I kept thinking it was for a good cause. Running away together was exhausting, but it also helped me clear my head. The team really looks up to you, realizing that," she blushed, "made me see a different side of you. It also felt like an adventure after all that happened and I guess somewhere along the way I must have started to trust you."

"You're not too hard to trust, you're too nice at times, but you have your wild side."

"I think I like being adventurous," Delia yawned as exhaustion finally caught up to her. "We better rest," she felt more relaxed now, despite the situation. She was still full of curiosity, but talking to Giovanni was easier than she expected and that made her feel relieved enough to fall asleep.

xoxox xox xoxox

"The police are coming!" The sun had started to sink in horizon and soon it would be time for their mission, but the team's rest was interrupted when those currently standing watch alerted their companions as fast and quietly as possible. "They didn't see me but they're close, they'll probably be here in a few minutes, the Growlithe might have picked up our scent already!"

Delia wasn't sure for how long she slept, but with her adrenaline on high, a couple of hours were enough to fully energize her again. "This time we're too suspicious," they were in a different location and in their Team Rocket uniforms. There was no way they could trick the officers in this area into thinking they were just a harmless group of friends.

"Everyone, climb up on the trees, have the pokemon help, we need to stay out of their view," without questioning Giovanni's orders the team began to climb, some skillfully, others clumsily, and several relying on their pokemon to help them get up the trees.

"Let Ivysaur out, her vine whip can help people get up on the trees faster," Delia suggested.

"Ivysaur doesn't have vine whip," Giovanni had cut it off and used it to tie up Delia when they first met and if it was going to grow back; it would take a very long time.

"You didn't even check to see if I had properly treated her. She's fully healed, she can use vine whip just fine," Delia assured, feeling a cold chill at the memory, but it was okay, she was there now; she would make sure Giovanni didn't make such foolish sacrifices.

"Well then, good job," Giovanni released Ivysaur and ordered the pokemon to help everyone get up the trees, then proceeded with the next part of his improvised plan. "Leah, have Butterfree spread a small amount of sleep powder on the ground and the base of the trees, not too much, the idea is to make the Growlithe drowsy without making them sleepy enough for the police to catch on."

"I understand," Leah got to work with her pokemon right away.

"Aayla, have Haunter on stand by to use hypnosis if it looks like any of the Growlithe or police are on to something, but he must stay hidden at all costs, even if it means a long range less effective attack," Giovanni ordered.

"Got it," Aayla nodded.

"Binks, Ben, let out Rattata and Pidgey, those pokemon are not rare in this area and can serve as a distraction if needed," Giovanni continued.

"Yes sir!" The two men saluted in unison and released their pokemon, quickly explaining the plan to them.

Giovanni was the last to climb up on a tree after all the orders were given and the plan was set up; then they waited quietly. They couldn't take on the police now; they needed to save their strength to fight the Tempest Gang and take the Viridian City Gym from them.

A chorus of "Growlithe!" was heard approaching. Three police trained pokemon sniffed around, their senses numbed by the sleep powder. They could not perceive the fresh trail anymore and when they searched for it, it just made them feel more tired. In puzzlement, they stopped sniffing around that area, which was interpreted by the group of officers accompanying them as the area being clear.

Officer Jenny, the same Jenny who had witnessed the false hostage situation before, sighed in frustration. "It's useless to patrol the forest like this, they got away from us a long time ago," though the patrols still calmed the citizens at least.

"We tracked them as far as the mountains and lost them there, so we know the hostage situation was part of something bigger. Maybe the woman who was taken knew too much," an older male officer theorized, he was clearly exhausted from the long hours of work, but held a strong enough interest in his job not to complain about the overtime.

Jenny agreed, "I think you're right and that's what worries me the most. If by now we haven't heard anything, they might not be interested in ransom after all."

"Do you think she's already...?" A young officer, asked, he looked as if this was his first big case and he was not yet used to the complicated twists situations could take.

Jenny bit her lip and nodded bitterly, "I'll admit, the chances of her still being alive are slim, but there are also still some details that don't make sense. If they weren't being chased at first, why were they in such a hurry? It has been said it was because of the fight happening in the mountains where the fire took place, but what were the details of those events and why was the hostage being rushed over there? Was she part of some kind of deal? Maybe one gang was threatened to hand her over to another, but why?"

"Who was she anyway? Is her identity still unknown? I thought we had a lead," the older officer inquired.

Jenny shook her head, her expression remaining frustrated. "it was a dead end, but at least we know who he is, Giovanni Roketto, the son of Madame Boss, but her side has denied any involvement and we don't have sufficient proof. If you ask me, everyone down at the station is just scared!"

"The mafia is dangerous..." the statement from the youngest of the police group was met with a disapproving look from Jenny, which spoke louder than words.

Up in the tree Giovanni was feeling frustrated that his actions were linked to his mother rather than Team Rocket. He hated to admit it, but Team Rocket was just a band of troublemakers that paled in comparison to Madame Boss' complex organization, but that would change soon. Defeating their main rival the Tempest Gang, was the first step and from there they would take on every gang in the area, extending their territory and their power. Team Rocket would reign supreme and by far surpass Madame Boss.

Jenny took a moment to calm her annoyance at feeling so helpless to solve the case, "maybe if we knew the hostage's identity we could understand the situation better. It would be odd for it to be a case of an innocent hostage randomly caught up in a gang fight, the scenario doesn't fit."

"Are you sure the lead wasn't right?" The oldest officer just couldn't let it go.

"Um... what was her name again?" The younger one was almost afraid to asked, a little ashamed to have forgotten that detail.

"Delia Ketchum, we searched the Kanto citizen databases looking for a matching picture and I was sure it was her who I saw. I guess the seriousness of the situation must have played a trick on my senses, she was just a look alike, a good citizen, no criminal record what so ever," Jenny replied.

Delia had been growing nervous up in the tree, she was holding her precious pokemon egg securely, sitting on a large branch next to Giovanni. She glanced at him meaningfully and he nodded to assure her that she was on the clear, though he didn't know how. 

Jenny continued her explanation seeing as the other officers still looked puzzled about why she abandoned her theory concerning the hostage's identity. "It couldn't have been her; she was studying with Professor Oak of Pallet Town. We researched Miss Ketchum's background and found she was a student. We contacted Professor Oak to see if he had any clues, but he testified that on the day and time when the hostage situation occurred, Miss Ketchum was there, in Pallet Town, helping him conduct some research. Professor Oak said she left to continue her field studies; she was already gone when we contacted him. But he mentioned that he received a video call from Miss Ketchum on the morning of the day we spoke to him. That's why it can't be her."

No one could be in two places at once and if the well recognized pokemon researcher Samuel Oak said his student was in the laboratory the day of the hostage scene, she was believed to have been there. He would have no motivation to lie in the eyes of the police and his good reputation preceded him. It made Delia wonder just how much Professor Oak knew about her situation to have covered for her like that.

"I guess this area is clear," Jenny finally decided to move on. 

Giovanni had started to worry that the Growlithe would discover them if they stayed any longer. He looked at Delia silently, but that was enough for her to understand that he too was curious about what Jenny had said about Oak.

"Growlithe, growl!" One of the pokemon seemed to find something beyond the feeling of drowsiness and the officers were once again alert.

A silent signal from Giovanni to the neighboring tree brought Binks and Ben to in turn signal their pokemon who were hiding in the bushes watching and waiting. Rattata and Pidgey were not rare in the area, thus the Growlithe had been ignoring their scent. 

"Rattata!" Rattata ran towards the suspecting Growlithe and dashed past him followed by Pidgey. The two pokemon began to fight, effectively causing a distraction.

"It's probably over a berry or territory, we should leave these wild ones alone," Jenny assumed the scent the Growlithe had picked up belong to those two pokemon and nothing more. "Let's go Growlithe, we're done here." The group of officers and their pokemon finally left.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 14: Give me Justice

After waiting a while, to be safe, Team Rocket slowly climbed down from the trees, the danger had passed for now. They gathered around for instructions, the sun had already gone down and darkness invaded the thick forest making the multiple shades of green appear much darker.

As Giovanni spoke, everyone paid full attention, "defeat every trainer you find and take their pokemon, but don't wait to advance, if a trainer is found, two will stay and the rest will move forward, the two will catch up after the battle is over. They must have pokemon in storage and we can't give them a chance to call them all out. The groups will be balanced, each will have pokemon of different types, make sure to use those advantages in battle." From that point on he assigned the respective teams and they made the final preparations for the battle against the Tempest Gang.

xoxox xox xoxox

It was a moonless night, which provided extra cover for Team Rocket as they snuck towards the Viridian Gym and jumped over the fence noiselessly. The lights moved in even patterns, they stopped and observed them, then continued when the alignment was ideal to sneak past. They crossed the large yard and training ground, eluding the guards and reaching the back door.

Delia felt the rush of adrenaline and power she had become acquainted with lately return to her. At first she was a little worried about leaving the pokemon egg alone hidden in the forest, but when the hour of truth came, she was focused on the mission. The egg had been with her for a long time and it was fine, it would be alright hidden by itself for a while, it was safer than bringing it along into enemy territory.

Picking the lock was easy since several members of Team Rocket had been robbers before joining. As planned, Delia and Giovanni went on ahead, quietly sneaking through the dark gym's halls. Strangely, the inside was quite deserted; it didn't look like a gang's hideout at all. 

Even if the place was bigger than Team Rocket's old hideout had been, and taking into consideration that several of Tempest's members might have dropped out after their battle with Team Rocket left them in defeat, the lack of activity was still suspicious, they might be hiding somewhere. 

The contrast between the Viridian Gym and the old Team Rocket hideout made Giovanni think there was much more to it than they thought. Back in his old hideout there wasn't a moment of silence, someone was always walking around even in the middle of the night, getting a glass of water, trying to alleviate insomnia or simply not in the mood to sleep.

Giovanni and Delia saw a light at the end of the hall, filtering through a door that was only open a crack. They slowed their pace and he approached the door, taking a quick peek inside and retreating immediately so as to not be seen. He didn't see anyone and tried again, this time taking a better look at the room; it was empty, though the light was left on.

A noise, as if a heavy sliding door was being moved sounded off, but it was the wall that was moving, revealing a secret passage from which one man exited. Giovanni called out Ivysaur, "vine whip, tie him up." 

Before the man knew what was going on, Ivysaur had captured him, wrapping her vine whip over his mouth to prevent him from alerting anyone of their presence.

"I wonder if he will tell us anything about that passage..." Giovanni indirectly asked and the man's angry muffled noises were enough of an answer. "I didn't think so."

"Giovanni," Delia pouted, as if warning him not to use vine whip as a rope again.

Giovanni hit the man on the back of the head instead and knocked him out. "You can let go now Ivysaur, return." Delia made sure the unknown man was really knocked out, but still breathing, before following Giovanni through the secret passage. 

The dark passage was filled with echoes from below, angry growls and agonizing cries. They went down to a dimly lit basement filled with pokemon in cages; it broke Delia's heart to see the suffering pokemon.

"You just look worse now," a woman's voice was heard causing Giovanni and Delia to stop and take cover behind a row of cages. "This wasn't what I had in mind, ever since Giovanni ruined your face, you've only gotten uglier. How unpleasant and I even had to play nice with him and his girl to buy you some time. Not just that, but you never returned my Nidoqueen."

"I'm afraid your Nidoqueen has passed away, but it was for a good cause, the process of elimination was completed faster," a man replied.

"This is not what I wanted, oh what am I to do..." She paused, as Giovanni and Delia moved closer behind the cages and identified her, she was Amethyst. "Stupid pokemon, they're giving me a headache and they're so ugly too, all scratched, scarred and bruised. Beauty, riches, fame and power, the first and second I have granted, the third is easy to get but the forth, real power... are you failing me? I don't think I like you anymore, anyone can see your strategy is poor, most of the pokemon are dead and all so you could become this hideous creature?" Amethyst tugged her long golden hair behind her ear, her delicate nose wrinkled in disgust, her violet eyes angry. "You're not worthy of me anymore, why did you do this to yourself? Why make yourself so much worse than the state he left you in?"

"In the end, beauty is fleeting and power is more important," the man remained out of Giovanni and Delia's line of view. His voice sounded like growls, they didn't recognize it at all.

"I'm breaking up with you, but I'm sure you already knew that, coming out of the lower levels looking like that. You nearly gave me a heart attack! I suppose I could keep you as a minion," Amethyst voiced. They went out another exit up some stairs.

"What a spoiled brat you are, thinking you can have anything you want. I abandoned Aayla for you; left her to be caught by the police because of your stupid jealousy even if I said we broke up. She's with Team Rocket now, do you have any idea how much that bothers me? Now you want to make me your minion? Don't make me laugh, it's about time I ended your annoyance." 

The argument continued in the upper floor, it was the battle arena of the Viridian Gym. A horrified scream echoed as sharp metal claws slit Amethyst's throat, her body fell limp, a pool of blood spreading on the floor, her face had a frozen expression of terror. 

"Giovanni, I know you're there," the growling voice yelled towards the passage leading from the arena to the basement, "come out, there's no use in hiding, the same goes for your little friend who doesn't follow the rules. I can sense everything around me, the sounds, the scents; it's something a mere human wouldn't understand."

Giovanni and Delia came out of the passage, up to the gym's battle arena where at the opposite side Amethyst lay dead and next to her body there was a strange being. Noise had flooded the gym; Team Rocket was now battling the Tempest Gang after they came out from their underground base, a maze of passages.

The creature's face was distorted with propounding sharp metallic fangs and scaly skin. A patch of cyan hair still remained atop his head, crowned with four metal horns, sharp like knives. He had long claws as if he had three large daggers in place of fingers on each hand. "I am Venom, the leader of the Tempest Gang," he growled.

"I don't know what you've done to yourself, but this doesn't change anything, Team Rocket is taking over the Viridian Gym!" Giovanni never thought he would face an opponent like this, he never thought one could exist, but they had come too far and Team Rocket would find a way to be victorious.

"Let's play by the rules this time; it will be more enjoyable," Venom growled. "It was a surprising visit, I never thought you would come here, I'll admit I didn't expect it at all, but you will regret it. This time, we will not fight each other until the last of our pokemon falls, I want you to watch your weak pokemon fail and die before I end your life. First your pokemon, then your girl, then I'll torture you for a while and finally, I'll give you death, isn't that the perfect plan? Or maybe I should keep the girl; she might make an interesting guinea pig."

"Shut up!" Giovanni yelled, "there's no way you'll win this. Rhyhorn, Grabbler, Ivysaur!" Giovanni let out all his pokemon.

"Cloyster, Kingler!" Delia released her pokemon as well.

"Is that all you have? Alright then, my turn, I'll start with something weak, just to give your pathetic pokemon a warm up. I got this from Amethyst a little while before you arrived. Go Machoke! As you can see, this one is still in its natural state so it's weak. All five of your trash can attack at once if you wish," Venom laughed cruelly. "Come on, slaughter it, it's the only win you'll have, consider it all the mercy you're getting from me!"

Delia felt more anger than ever before, she couldn't and didn't want to believe that people like Venom existed in the world. That being could not be allowed to run free causing so much harm. She had convinced herself that karma was strong and justice would prevail, now was the time to prove it. "Machoke, please leave your trainer and come join us." Rhyhorn roared as if encouraging Machoke and soon the other pokemon joined in their words of persuasion. 

"Machoke!" The pokemon, who had been staring at Amethyst's lifeless form, made his way to the other side of the field and stood on the far right facing Venom. Machoke knew from the start Venom was not to be trusted, but Amethyst could not understand Machoke's warnings and simply ordered him to cease the senseless chatter, or recalled him to his pokeball. She wasn't the best trainer and often mistreated Machoke, but he cared for her and wanted to avenge her.

Next to Machoke was Rhyhorn, who used to be Venom's pokemon and was thirsty for revenge for how he treated her. Ivysaur was next, having endured much in her life, but ready to loyally battle. Grabbler stood ready, holding a special pride in following the orders of the trainer that had defeated him personally. 

Delia's pokemon stood to the left of Giovanni's; Cloyster, eternally grateful to Delia who had nursed him and given him the gift of evolution and with it the power to repay her. Finally, there was Kingler, who did not regret his choice of wanting to be trained by Delia; he stood ready and willing to do whatever it might take to win.

"Traitor!" Venom roared, crushing Machoke's empty pokeball in his hand. "It doesn't matter; I'll show you true power!" He readied another pokemon, this one can take them all on; you'll all die!"

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 15: Give me Victory

Giovanni and Delia were facing Venom, the leader of the Tempest Gang, while the rest of Team Rocket battled his minions all over the Viridian Gym. Their pokemon, Cloyster, Kingler, Ivysaur, Graveler, Rhyhorn and the new Machoke, stood ready to face any pokemon that emerged from Venom's pokeball.

A loud roar echoed as the dragon pokemon appeared surrounded in a red beam of light projected from the pokeball. It was a fierce looking Dragonite with strange silver wires wrapped around him and a machine on his back, armored in thick shiny iron. The pokemon's eyes glowed a bright red and it looked truly furious, shaking with rage, involuntary low growls escaping it.

"Go Dragonite, destroy them all!" Venom ordered with great confidence, pointing at his enemies with his sharp dagger-like claws, "hyper beam!" 

The dangerous hyper beam charged faster then Delia and Giovanni expected in a big blinding light. The two humans felt the beam's heat as if it reached them, but it had not, their six pokemon had received the impact protecting them. All six were bruised and cut, though the battle was only beginning. Graveler and Rhyhorn had taken the front of their improvised barrier, having the strongest natural body armor, but they along with their pokemon comrades, had suffered the effects of the devastating attack all the same.

"It's hopeless!" Venom exclaimed, his eyes wild, his voice cocky and mocking.

"I'm not giving up, I'll win this!" Giovanni knew the odds were terribly against him, but losing was simply not an option, the only way to live now was to win. "Ivysaur razor leaf! Graveler earthquake! Rhyhorn tail whip! Machoke rolling kick!"

Seeing the strategy to knock Dragonite down, Delia sent out her pokemon as well to create a distraction, an invasion of bubbles to slow Dragonite and make the other's movements harder to perceive, "Kingler bubble! Cloyster bubble beam!"

Ivysaur's leaves surrounded Dragonite, bouncing off his skin without effect. Graveler caused the arena to shake, but Dragonite, despite being unable to fly due to his deteriorated wings, thin and full of holes, stood firm and unaffected. Rhyhorn ran towards Dragonite, evolving into Rhydon mid way through the arena and delivering a powerful hit, yet Dragonite only batted Rhydon away. Rhydon fell a few feet away, but got up immediately, with a strength and determination to continue battling. 

The arena was flooded with bubbles, which seemed to at least annoy Dragonite, though the dragon pokemon went back to being unaffected soon after, ignoring the bubbles and focusing his angry look on the two opposing trainers. Machoke charged in and kicked Dragonite, suffering the fame fate as Rhydon who, not satisfied with the lack of effect of her first attacked, repeated it, though the with the same result.

"They're all so weak, there's no way you'll win. Don't you know that if you want strong pokemon you need to make them strong? Am I the only one who understands this?" Venom growled, "no one else comprehends such greatness, not you, not Amethyst, no one!" He looked down on the pokemon and trainers who dared to oppose him, believing himself to be far superior.

Machoke roared in protest and wildly charged towards Venom in anger, he was the cause of Amethyst's death, an irreparable tragedy. Dragonite blocked Machoke's path, tossing him against the wall on the side of the arena.

"What's wrong? Do you recognize that name, weak little pokemon? Of course you don't, pokemon are too stupid to know what happens around them," Venom mocked, "even if I tell you I killed her, you wouldn't understand!"

Machoke let out a cry of anger and agony and surrounded by a bright glow like Rhyhorn had before, he evolved into Machamp with the intensity of his thirst for vengeance and hatred for the cruel human.

"You're wrong Venom, pokemon do understand what's happening. They might even be able to understand the world better than humans. That's why we study them, to try to understand them and learn from them!" Delia yelled; her emotions then were indescribable. Anger and sadness all at once, being shaped into a desperate need to do something to change this, and that need fueled her determination not to give up. 

"Team Rocket is the ultimate power of this world. You're about to see it for yourself Venom!" Giovanni glared at him in anger, his pokemon were losing and he knew it, but they couldn't back down now, there had to be some way to win, an unforeseen strategy that would work. Giovanni knew Dragonite was superior in strength to all his pokemon and Delia's put together, so he would have to make up for it with a good strategy. "Ivysaur vine whip!"

"Cloyster, Kingler, blizzard!" The snow storm conjured by the two water pokemon raged as Ivysaur charged in a cold white veil.

"Machamp cross chop! Rhydon horn attack! Graveler tackle!" Giovanni sent his pokemon on the attack again, they had to keep trying, there had to be a weakness to Dragonite.

Dragonite stood waiting for Venom's order while growling in perpetual anger. Ivysaur wrapped her vine whip around Dragonite, though he escaped, tearing the vine whip to pieces. As Dragonite broke free, he was surrounded by the strong snow storm caused by Cloyster and Kingler's united attacks. Machamp and Rhydon charged in left and right, their attacks reaching Dragonite simultaneously, finalized by Graveler in a frontal assault.

Dragonite nearly lost his balance, stepping back and roaring loudly. Venom remained unaffected by the events, thinking the attempts to defeat Dragonite would be futile no matter what, he was overconfident and enjoyed watching their efforts fail. "Enough playing, I'm getting bored, Dragonite twister!" 

The wind was immensely strong, causing the Rocket pokemon to group together, holding on to each other not to be blown away, while at the same time protecting their trainers. Dragonite roared a defiant battle cry and flapped his ragged wings, blowing another gust of air mixed with smoke from his mouth.

"Ivysaur, solar beam!"

"Cloyster, aurora beam!"

The other pokemon protected Ivysaur and Cloyster as they attacked, the two beams pierced the wall of wind hitting their target, but they only pushed Dragonite back. However, the dragon ceased his attack and the wind subsided. "Dragonite, outrage!" at Venom's order, Dragonite wildly attacked, having grown impatient with only being allowed to do so much, but knowing not to defy Venom who liked to exhaust his opponents.

"Kingler, vice grip!" Kingler held on to Dragonite's right arm, despite the dragon pokemon trying to shake him off. "Cloyster tackle and hold on!" Cloyster jumped towards Dragonite and closed his shell on impact, attaching himself to the furious dragon's left arm.

"Graveler, Machamp, Rhydon, mega punch!" The three pokemon attacked in perfect unison as the two water pokemon held on to Dragonite. Combining their attacks they were finally able to knock the large dragon pokemon down.

"Get up Dragonite!" Venom yelled, "finish them now!"

Even more enraged, Dragonite thrashed about, but Cloyster and Kingler didn't let go of his arms. Now Graveler, Rhydon and Machamp held on to him as well.

"Ivysaur solar beam!" Giovanni commanded, now was their only chance to win and they couldn't waste it.

"What are you doing Dragonite? Attack, use fire blast!" Venom ordered impatiently.

Ivysaur fired her solar beam and it collided with Dragonite's more powerful fire blast sending sparks all over the arena, the temperature rising rapidly. The fire blast canceled the solar beam and continued on with amazing power. It all happened in a split second; Giovanni and Delia were in danger from the blast of fire heading towards them. Ivysaur jumped in the way and shielded them but caught on fire, taking the hit head on. 

Ivysaur advanced towards Dragonite still aflame and unleashed another solar beam despite her extreme pain. Following the solar beam, which hit its target before Dragonite or Venom could react, the blazing grass pokemon tackled Dragonite with tremendous force. 

Many of the wires around Dragonite snapped and the metal box caught on fire, sending a shock of electricity all over Dragonite's body. Kingler, Cloyster, Machamp, Rhydon and Graveler quickly let go and back away as Dragonite roared in pain, until he finally lost consciousness at the cost of Ivysaur's life.

"Ivysaur!" Delia cried in agony, fearing the pokemon had no hopes of survival, only partially realizing she was already dead. "Ivysaur!" Delia tried to run towards the charred remains, like a pile of burned leaves on top of the unconscious Dragonite, but Giovanni held her back. "Let me go, I have to-"

"It's too late and this battle isn't over!" Giovanni held on to her until she stopped struggling.

Delia had an immense fury in her eyes, a thirst for justice and vengeance. Team Rocket had to clean the world of terrible people like Venom. "You horrible monster, Team Rocket will give you all the pain you gave these pokemon!"

"Is that so?" Venom stepped forward and slit the unconscious Dragonite's throat with his metal claws. 

"Dragonite! Why did you do that? He was your own pokemon, he fought for you!" Delia yelled enraged and even more saddened.

"That creature lost," Venom replied simply, his voice filled with indifference.

"Dudes," Luke suddenly emerged from the tunnel leading to the basement out of breath. Giovanni and Delia had been so focused on their battle that they stopped listening for the other sounds in the gym, it was quiet now. "We like won, we got them all, we like took all the Tempest dudes prisoner," Luke held his hand over his ribs, where there was abundant blood, though he also had cuts and bruises all over. "We had to like fight too, you know?" His eyes went to Venom, who looked very displeased overhearing the news. "Whoa!"

"Luke you're injured and the others too?" The war seemed to have no end for Delia; she wanted to somehow heal all her companions, human and pokemon alike.

"We're tough," Luke replied with some difficulty and forced himself to smile reassuringly.

"Listen Luke..." Giovanni whispered something; Luke nodded and disappeared back into the tunnel leading to the basement from where he came.

"So the Tempest Gang has been defeated? It doesn't matter, they were weak anyway!" Venom growled almost insanely, out of focus, wild. "There's nothing you can do to stop me, were you planning your desperate escape just now?"

"Team Rocket has no intention of running away!" Giovanni yelled back.

"Good, because I won't let you!" Venom roared. "You all die now!" 

Venom charged forward, Rhydon and Machamp were the first in his way. Giovanni quickly shouted commands to both pokemon, but Venom was too fast and the exhausted pair of pokemon was stabbed simultaneously, falling down defeated, though alive.

Cloyster and Kingler were next; too fast to react they were out of the fight and gravely injured as well, but still breathing. Graveler stood as the only barrier between the rampaging Venom and the two trainers. 

Venom slashed away, pieces of rock falling off Graveler. The pokemon was in too much pain and could not react fast enough to follow any commands. More pieces of the rock pokemon fell, but Graveler continued trying to follow Giovanni's orders, though his actions had no effect on Venom.

An echo of cries and growls was heard coming from the tunnel leading to the basement. A stampede of pokemon, sick and injured but thirsty for vengeance made its way up to the arena and assaulted Venom. 

Giovanni's order had been for Team Rocket to let all the caged pokemon lose. After the way Machoke, now Machamp joined them to go against Venom and how he and Rhyhorn, now Rhydon evolved to fight him, Giovanni knew it would be useful to free the pokemon. They would surely hate Venom and attack him in their rage.

Venom screamed in pain as the pokemon bit and scratched. He slashed at them wildly, killing several, but there were too many, they buried him completely and relentlessly attacked. Team Rocket members poured into the arena and sent out their pokemon to help, regardless of their tired and injured state, some even got caught in the excitement and joined the attack themselves.

Venom became silent, his previous roars and growls lost. Team Rocket recalled their pokemon and backed away. The crazed pokemon that had been experimented on still buried Venom scratching and biting, not really being fully aware of what they were doing, focused only on revenge for their pain, feral and berserk. Slowly the pokemon began to feel the effects of their exhaustion having exerted themselves against Venom. Many fell unconscious and others crawled away a short distance and lay down breathing heavily.

Team Rocket, fully gathered in the arena, cheered, but Delia wasn't feeling victorious, "the pokemon..." Graveler twitched, despite his broken state and looked at the humans. "Graveler!" Delia rushed to his side. 

Giovanni observed the other pokemon trained by himself and Delia, they showed a little movement, signs of breathing and some even opened their eyes tiredly. A few of the sick pokemon fighting Venom had survived but they were in critical condition. In spite of that, they no longer held that look of rage and madness they had before, as if the effects of their revenge had sunk in and they had no target for their anger anymore. "Everyone, we can't afford to lose any more pokemon, start treating them immediately. We'll celebrate when we recover." Giovanni ordered; the key to maintaining power would be to have the most and strongest pokemon. 

Everyone ceased their cheering, realizing that Team Rocket was left virtually powerless by the harsh battle. The team got to work, treating the pokemon, giving them first aid and trying to keep them and each other alive.

xoxox xox xoxox

In the remainder of the night, Team Rocket treated the injured pokemon. Many of the ones that were released from the laboratory didn't make it, but most of their own did.

Binks had examined Venom's remains with the curiosity of a genetic science specialist then went off to find Giovanni, who was in one of the many rooms of the gym taking care of the pokemon with Delia. "It was ditto!" Binks dashed into the room, the door was left open, with different people often coming in and out to say something to their leader. "Venom injected himself with the DNA of Ditto to make his body more flexible to the modifications he made, that's how he survived his extreme surgery, but it wasn't a full mutation it was a combination between mutation and surgery. I also found a lot of interesting information in the laboratory. It seems the epidemic might have originated here by accident from mutated pokemon due to Venom's research. It seems he didn't know what to make of it, he had no control over the disease," Binks sounded very excited about the discovery.

"The cure!" Delia had been half inside Cloyster's shell taking care of the injuries within; Venom had slipped his claws inside before Cloyster could close his shell. She poked her head out the top of the shell, "do you think the information here could lead to finding a cure?"

"It's very likely!" Binks then went on a scientific speech about the properties of the virus that neither Giovanni nor Delia, despite having studied with Professor Oak, could keep up with; it was too technical, riddled with complex medical terms and hard to pronounce composite words.

"That's enough, organize the data that could be useful to research an antidote and clean out any unnecessary information," Giovanni ordered. He didn't need his headache to grow worse listening to Binks' elaborate terminology.

"Yes, boss, right away!" Binks rushed out to get to work. His blond hair was messier than ever and the purplish-black circles under his eyes stood out on his thin face, but he was bursting with energy and enthusiasm.

Delia finished taking care of Cloyster and looked over Kingler's bandages before going off to change Machamp's bandages. "The bleeding stopped, good, now stay still while I apply this cream, it will sting but it will help you heal and you won't even have a scar." The same process had been done with Rhydon who was resting there as well. 

Graveler was in more stable condition then the others; his structure was different from the other pokemon due to his thick stone armor. With so much stone the injuries sealed faster, but he was left permanently scarred. His wounds had closed and would not easily open up again, but he had lost some limbs protecting Giovanni and Delia. Graveler sat sadly in a corner, with a deep line diagonally from his forehead down to his chest over one eye, which was blind and closed. Out of four, he only had one arm left now. 

Delia had comforted the pokemon, telling him evolution might heal him, but in truth she wasn't sure, she had never seen such terrible injuries before and Graveler was so depressed he might not have the will to evolve even if he was trained.

Delia yawned and scanned the room for her magenta cup of coffee with a picture of a clashing bright red pokeball silhouette, which was not really hers, but something she found and claimed in the gym's kitchen, it was probably Amethyst's. It seemed that Amethyst had been some kind of coffee addict or maybe she kept the supply for Venom to stay awake experimenting through the night. There was a large supply of coffee of many different kinds in the gym's kitchen. 

Spotting the cup on the corner of a polished redwood desk, Delia picked it up and drank what was left, yawning again soon after. "I need more coffee."

"You need sleep," Giovanni corrected, with a look that clearly indicated he needed to rest as well. "I have a plan; I'll take care of things."

Delia shook her head sleepily, her eyes involuntarily half closed, "the pokemon..."

"Save for the sick ones, all the survivors are in a stable condition. You've treated so many, you deserve to rest, but first, I need you to call Professor Oak," Giovanni knew he had no more time to waste for his plan to work.

To be Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fantasy Bit: http://mikari.piratesboard.net
> 
> Deviant Art: http://mikaristar.deviantart.com
> 
> Fanart Central: http://fanart-central.net/user/AzureMikari/


	4. Part 4

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 16: Give me Cunning

Giovanni wanted Team Rocket to be feared, but now was not the time to provoke the police. He had been trying to think of a way to make sure the police stayed away from them for the time being and the answer finally came to him. 

While Delia was occupied treating the injured pokemon, Giovanni had a scene arranged at the gym's arena. The way it would be interpreted, Venom killed Amethyst before anyone could stop him and battled Team Rocket. However, his mutations backfired and he died. It was close to the truth, but slightly modified.

There was no need for the police to know about the connection between Amethyst and Venom or the existence of the sub-terrain laboratory and the pokemon that were there. Aayla's previous position with Tempest had involved arranging false scenes so she was familiar with doing things like this and Binks was good with science so he could come up with a way to modify the details so that the tests would give the results they wanted.

According to the information Leah discreetly gathered in the city, noises were heard from the gym at night often so the neighbors thought nothing of it, assuming it was another late night pokemon training session. 

The plan was inspired by Delia and her idea of Team Rocket as a force of justice. Though Team Rocket would soon be feared, for the time being, they would have to operate in the shadows and pretend to be heroic vigilantes until they were ready to face the world.

Ditto was the key to making this work, "the hostage act might be a problem, so I'll have to clear my name of that for now." Though his link to Madame Boss was well known, the police still didn't have sufficient evidence against him or the means to stop her. He was focused, running over the possibilities in his head, with a little added pressure and the right background situation, this plan would work.

"That's were Professor Oak comes in, right? But how is it going to work? The police saw you," Delia couldn't think of a way around it, though surely Professor Oak's testimony was key. She ran her fingers through her long brown hair unconsciously and tiredly, she was still very puzzled by the unknown extent of Professor Oak's information about the general situation concerning Team Rocket and her place in it.

"You can tell the police that the one holding you hostage was Venom. They'll come here and find his body; we'll say we came to stop the Tempest Gang and Team Rocket will be the heroes this time. They'll believe it because of the ditto DNA in Venom; we'll have them think he managed to copy the pokemon's abilities. As for Professor Oak, he needs to support your story. He denied you were the hostage that time so he'll have to take it back, he could say that the Tempest Gang was threatening him with you as a hostage and testify about Venom's abilities," Giovanni explained, he knew it was a long shot, but this sort of situation wasn't always about proving something, but rather creating a scene where a story was good enough to be accepted and to motivate that acceptance with the situation.

"I understand," it was all for the best, Delia continued to constantly remind herself, "I hope Professor Oak doesn't mind lying again, but it is for a good reason, to help a band of vigilantes, I'm sure he'll do it." She had learned to look on the bright side of every situation however grim, she was exhausted and the pokemon were in bad shape, as were some of the Team Rocket members who were injured and would have to stay out of the action for a while. Even so the battle had been won, the Viridian Gym was their new home and Team Rocket was on the road to recovery and perhaps on the right path to becoming heroes. "I'll call Professor Oak right away and explain the situation."

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia called Professor Oak and told him the vital parts of the story, explaining she needed his help, while leaving out all the unnecessary details. She didn't want him to be too involved more than necessary. "So you see, that's why we need your help. I also wanted to ask, why did you cover for me?" Delia's voice and expression carried both gratitude and guilt.

"Because I trust you, I did some research after I heard of your disappearance from Cerulean City during your internship," Professor Oak replied on the video phone, his expression a mixture of uncertainty for the future and relief for the present. He had been worried and disappointed when he realized Delia had hidden the truth from him, but concluded that she just didn't want to cause trouble; her secrecy was for protection, rather than lack of trust. "I knew you must have your reasons for being with Giovanni, you two seemed happy together when you were here so when I heard about the hostage situation, I knew it couldn't be real, that's why I tried to protect your identity and throw the police off your trail. So Team Rocket are vigilantes now?" Oak clearly didn't believe it, even if he wanted to protect his student who was like a daughter to him and wished that for her sake, the unlikely situation of Team Rocket as heroes came true.

"We have vital information that could lead to the discovery of a cure for the epidemic," Giovanni's revelation immediately captured Oak's attention, he had been standing quietly beside Delia, as not much more than part of the background thus far. His face had gone from unreadable to confident, knowing he had the information that Professor Oak and so many others wanted. "I can send you this information and since you were already researching the cure and have experience on your side, you might find it faster than us. There's just one condition, as soon as you have the cure, you have to give it to us. You can submit it for official review right away, but I don't want to wait for it to be approved to have it."

"Agreed," Professor Oak opposed no argument to the condition, "there's no time to wait for the bureaucracy anyway." He knew there had to be another motive mixed in aside from helping the pokemon fast, perhaps an advantage against other gangs by being the first to obtain the cure, but that was nothing in comparison to the actual discovery of the cure. He didn't want Delia to get into trouble, she was like family to him, but she was also an adult, free to make her own choices. For now, Professor Oak would have to trust her and hope for the best. "I will also give my testimony as you ask." At least a cure could come out of all of this and in time perhaps all the pieces would align to form a better picture than he expected. For the time being, what was asked of him, in comparison to what would be given, was not an extraordinary request.

xoxox xox xoxox

Things went surprisingly smooth. The Tempest Gang were the villains and Team Rocket the heroic outlaws, suspicious of various crimes, but without sufficient proof against them. For the most part, the police believed everything. Professor Oak's testimony played as much of a key role as the ditto DNA confirmed to be in Venom.

It seemed that they were in the clear until Jenny of Viridian requested to speak with the leader of Team Rocket, away from the investigation team crowded in the arena. It was done discreetly, so the other officers, absorbed in their work, barely noticed Jenny was gone as they continue their grim yet excited discussion about their findings.

In what would later become Giovanni's office, away from prying eyes and ears; Giovanni and Delia listened to Jenny's deliberation. "Everything fits perfectly, save for maybe the odd timing here and there, but the forensic data so far is on your side and the timing is still within the margin of error; I trust it will continue to be regardless of how deep we dig. You also have a powerful testimony from a well know pokemon researcher on your side. Still, to think that a human could so accurately copy the ability of a pokemon..."

Giovanni and Delia remained silent; he had a well practiced look of calm indifference, with just enough alertness, hiding his true exhaustion perfectly. Delia was trying hard to look calm and though it was with effort, she succeeded, pushing away all worries and tiredness.

Jenny continued, "things are more complicated than just the law, sometimes there are more gray areas then black and white. Such as certain organizations being too dangerous to take them head on, because when they were small, enough proof could never be found, connections got in the way and the organizations grew large and unstoppable. I also know that sometimes following the law is not enough, but I am not one to break it to make my own justice, over the years I've learned to accept the limitations of what the police can do, of what I can do. But the question still remains, how can you possibly be trusted and why are you still here in the Viridian Gym?" The experienced officer had a focus critical look and sharp glare, predicting that she would not like any explanation she may receive.

"Don't trust me if you don't want to, didn't you just say it makes no difference?" At least that much was established, which saved Giovanni a lot of pointless arguing. "I'm here because I intend to become the new leader of this gym. I can win by the votes of the city if need be," Giovanni assured, his revelation being received more calmly then he expected. Taking over any given place was never as difficult as maintaining control. The larger the territory to command, the more complex it became to keep it under control, it would be a slow process and a learning experience, something that Giovanni looked forward to, but at the same time knew it would take time to adapt to it.

"I see..." Jenny bitterly accepted reality, "I take it you must already have a plan and a couple of backup plans to have the city elect you as the new gym leader. Fear, bribery, blackmail, political influence; without solid proof and amidst the current crisis, there's not much that can be done to stop you and you're already well aware of that. The police will be busy enough covering this up, for which you already know your cooperation will be needed," Jenny knew she was trapped in a corner by the situation, there was no point in pretending to be in control when the facts were so clear to her opponent and he knew exactly were he stood.

"All the evidence blames the Tempest Gang, evidence of which everyone in Team Rocket is aware of that should not be known to the world. The wrong people might start to get ideas about human and pokemon modifications, and the innocent citizens will live in fear. I can understand why the mayor would order the police to cover it. However, you can rest assured that what you've been told is truthful," albeit not the whole truth. "As for the soon to be ended epidemic, I can also honestly say it was Tempest's fault," Giovanni revealed, having a few real truths among the bent and twisted versions of the truth was always useful to have the story seen as a whole, supported by those real truths within it. "Such counterproductive measures are of no interest to me." 

Jenny gasped, "you're... you're not lying. That is dangerous information, to create a virus of such power... it's best if people don't know it's possible. But can you really be trusted not to repeat history? What about the cure? What about Professor Oak?" 

"Only a fool would create a power that could not be controlled," the virus was the downfall of Tempest and Giovanni would not make such a costly mistake.

"Professor Oak doesn't know anything," Delia insisted, suddenly speaking after her long silence, her expression going from neutral to defensive and back in a split second. "These... negotiations are between Team Rocket and the police," she wasn't sure where the line of justice fueled deception was blurred into a sort of indirect threat, but she tried to focus on the end result, realizing that at times the methods were inevitably messy. Jenny seemed to know that as well.

"Fine, Professor Oak is well trusted and given the expected end result of the situation, his testimony was for the best. It seems we have no choice but to let you do this. Go ahead, win over the city, bribe them with the cure to the epidemic if that's what you're planning to do." Jenny's many years as a police investigator filled her mind with theories, knowing that in the end it was not the explanation or even the truth that mattered, but the consequences and Team Rocket's retaliation if they were pushed to that, would be devastating.

Jenny wished she had more control over the situation, but it was out of hand and letting the new power settle in quietly was the most peaceful option in the end. She hoped that when it was time for her daughter to take over as the new officer Jenny, things would have settled down and Viridian City would have gotten used to coexisting with the dark secrets that could not be disclosed or dissolved.

"There is one thing I must ask of you," Jenny looked at Giovanni serious and determined. "With this I'll either forever regret my lack of power or find some consolation. If you are to become the leader of this gym, I want to test your skills in a pokemon battle, one on one."

"I assure you I'll win, why don't you pick a spot outside where the battle won't get in the way of the officers that are still looking around, I'll be right there," Giovanni accepted the challenge, his confidence ever present, though on the inside, he knew he had reasons to worry given the state of his pokemon.

Though she found it a little suspicious, Jenny knew she would gain nothing by being stubborn and arguing. For all she knew, the delay might not have a meaning at all, Giovanni could just be annoying her, knowing he held all the cards this time. "Fine, don't take too long," Jenny left.

After Jenny was gone, Giovanni faced the dilemma of what pokemon to use for the battle. "Their wounds will open," Delia expressed her worries, her face filled with deep concern, "except for Graveler, but he..."

Giovanni knew the state Graveler was in, but he was the only pokemon not at risk of falling over and bleeding to death due to reopened injuries during the battle. Aside from the battle scars and lost limbs, Graveler was ready to fight. "I don't have a choice."

The pair went to get the rock pokemon in another room; understandably, Graveler looked depressed in his state. Delia patted his head gently and smiled reassuringly, "Graveler, we need your help defending this gym so that Giovanni can become the new gym leader. All our comrades are still recovering, it's all up to you; please try your best."

"Does a pep talk really make a difference?" Giovanni didn't think so, he kept trying to think of a strategy to use that would make up for this disadvantage and was beginning to regret his hasty acceptance of Jenny's challenge. Perhaps seeing the officer admit his advantage in the situation made him a little too confident.

"I'm sure it helps, you should encourage Graveler too!" Delia insisted, with certainty. She had always believed pokemon's morale and emotions were vital to battling and every other aspect of their lives.

"Fine, we're counting on you Graveler, win this," though Giovanni was only humoring Delia, it was enough for Graveler.

The rock pokemon looked much happier now, seeing that despite the state he was in, the humans who had captured him in such an unforgettable battle were not abandoning him. Surrounded by light, Graveler felt his form change and seconds later, a perfectly healthy Golem stood before them, filled with the confidence he was given.

"You evolved!" Delia cheered, "you see, Giovanni? A few words of encouragement go a long way." The feeling of victory and the optimism of invincibility were returning to Delia.

"Wasn't that a coincidence?" Giovanni never expected something like this to happen, but it changed everything for the better. "Either way the timing couldn't be more perfect, I'll be sure to win this battle." Giovanni recalled Golem to his pokemon and went out to meet his opponent.

xoxox xox xoxox

Officer Jenny stood outside the gym waiting for Giovanni to arrive. "Ready?" She was becoming impatient and wanted to get this battle done.

"I'm always ready," Giovanni called out Golem, he wasn't worried about the battle anymore, now he couldn't wait to get started and win.

"A Golem, you must be expecting me to call out Growlithe, right? That's not my only pokemon." Jenny called out her chosen pokemon, Golduck.

"Don't think the type advantage will help you!" Giovanni started with a direct attack, "Golem, tackle!" The rock pokemon charged in fearlessly.

"Golduck, water gun!" The blue duck shot a strong blast of water from his mouth, which hit the target but did not stop Golem, who rammed right into Golduck. "Taking an attack head on like that, strong but careless, tail whip!" Golduck tried to defend himself, though he was close to his limit from Golem's impressive initial attack. 

"Mega punch!" The command brought memories to Golem, from when he was caught and from the battle against his trainer's enemy, Venom. With a loud roar, Golem punched Golduck hard enough to send him flying several feet, landing bruised and unconscious on the ground.

Golem looked satisfied and Delia cheered, but Jenny's expression as she recalled Golduck with a few words of gratitude for his attempt, was not the defeated look Giovanni thought she would have. "I'll have to think of this battle and let it ease my mind a little."

Giovanni thought he understood what she meant, "because Viridian City will have a strong gym leader?"

Jenny shook her head, "I knew you would win, even with the type advantage, you couldn't have come this far without being capable of winning against all odds. I wanted to see your pokemon in action; this Golem is very proud to be your pokemon. I don't know what the future will bring, and I still don't like the situation, but I suppose I can accept it for the time being," not that there was any other choice.

xoxox xox xoxox

Later, Jenny and the other officers left, taking away all the evidence and bodies from the scene at the arena, having finished their examination. The arena could now be cleaned and the gym revitalized, of course all the surviving Tempest members had been arrested.

Binks was sent on his way to Pallet Town with information for Professor Oak, he was to stay in the laboratory and help with the research. While some members of Team Rocket tiredly carried out miscellaneous tasks to get the gym ready for pokemon battles and to be their new base, others rested where they found a quiet spot to do so. This was the start of a new era for Team Rocket.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 17: Give me Love

Delia made her way down the halls of the Viridian City Gym with a zombie-like expression and constant yawns and a few sobs. She had worked so hard, she barely had time to mourn the lost pokemon, though she knew she had to keep moving forward.

"I can't believe you managed to make yourself look awake when Jenny was here," Giovanni himself was also extremely tired, though he seemed to generally need less sleep than Delia, having become accustomed to getting little over the years.

Delia yawned again and looked at Giovanni, who was a bit out of focus, "I had to," she started falling forward and he caught her. 

"We can rest now; Team Rocket has new headquarters and a great cover. Things will be much easier from now on," Giovanni wasn't sure if Delia was listening, or if she was sleepwalking along with him.

They came to a door and entered; Delia made her way to the bed, dizzy with sleep and gently petted the egg that accompanied her throughout her entire adventure, feeling its temperature. She lay down next to it, her expression at last peaceful, glad to finally put her head on a pillow. 

"When is this thing going to hatch?" To Giovanni it felt as if the egg had been with them for too long and he wondered if it would hatch at all.

"Hmm?" Delia opened her eyes again a bit surprised at how close Giovanni was, as much as the egg between them allowed. "Soon, and you can't sleep here, I'm sleeping here."

"This is the biggest room, it goes to the leader," Giovanni calmly pointed out, as if it were the most obvious fact.

"You said it was mine," Delia reminded.

"Only because I'm sharing it with you," he had that same expression once again, mischievous, though this time also sleepy, but just enough to live up to his Charmander nickname.

However, Delia was too tired to argue, she would leave that for later, "fine, you're too tired to misbehave anyway, aren't you Charmander?" No more words were spoken between them, Giovanni not bothering to celebrate his little victory too much, as he was indeed exhausted. They drifted off to sleep with no immediate worries for the first time in a long time.

xoxox xox xoxox

It was a strange feeling that woke her, like a pulsation from the egg and there was a lot of warmth, more than ever before. Delia wasn't sure how many hours had passed, but the room was dark, though not pitch black. Was it sunset? It had been the afternoon when she fell asleep, but she felt too rested for it to have been only a few hours to the evening. Then she realized the sun wasn't setting, she should be able to see it from the open window if it were, it was instead rising, the night had gone by and a new day had began.

Giovanni was still there, resting, she was sure he was resting with his eyes close and not really sleeping, he didn't need thirteen hours of sleep, even after draining all his energy, ten might have been enough to catch on sleep for him, maybe even eight. Delia examined what caused her to wake up, the pulsations from the egg and its increased warmth; the egg was finally hatching.

If she was the first living being the newborn pokemon saw, then the baby would think she was its mother, but maybe she wouldn't be the first. Perhaps Giovanni would benefit more from the experience of taking care of a pokemon since birth. Who wouldn't love a cute little baby pokemon? Maybe he would care more about pokemon in general if he raised this one.

"Giovanni, are you awake?" Delia called softly, the decision having been made, albeit without his input.

He opened his eyes too quickly to have been sleeping; he had woken up first, just as she thought. "The egg is... doing something," he didn't seem too interested, but still a little curious.

"I know; it will hatch soon," Delia handed the egg to Giovanni. "Be careful not to hurt the baby, break the shell gently," she instructed.

"Why? Isn't it coming out on its own?" Giovanni was puzzled by this, he had never heard of a pokemon egg needing help hatching before.

"The shell is too thick; I noticed it when I examined the egg to make sure it was healthy. It must have been a natural defense. If it was born on its own, good, but I knew that if after a while it didn't come out, it would need help. Let's not keep the baby waiting," Delia encouraged; she smiled warmly, truly enjoying the moment.

"Why do I have to do this?" Giovanni complained, "I don't know anything about baby pokemon." He had always preferred strong grown up pokemon, babies couldn't battle as well as fully grown pokemon and he saw little benefits in raising a small pokemon versus catching a strong adult. Besides, if he did make a mistake and end up hurting the little pokemon, Delia would be terribly upset.

"Because you'll be its father," Delia insisted, her expression unchanged, excited and happy. "I did most of the work keeping it warm so now you have to do something for the baby too."

"If you wanted a child, you should have just said so," Giovanni replied, his mischievous grin returning without a hint of drowsiness this time.

"Stop it Charmander, you need to focus, this is important!" Delia scolded him, but laughed while doing so, albeit her voice did not lose its sense of urgency.

The egg in Giovanni's hands vibrated impatiently, as if the baby could hear the voices outside and wanted whoever was out there to set it free. "Alright, how hard can it be?" Giovanni finally agreed and tried to break the egg, though it was difficult knowing how much force to apply. He tried to pull the top of the egg off and it cracked, "you really should do this yourself."

"You're doing fine, don't give up, can't you even handle a baby pokemon?" Delia teased, knowing that would make Giovanni want to prove her wrong.

"Fine, I'll do it," he carefully started to pry off a piece of the egg from the crack that had formed until he removed it and saw a glitter of gold inside, surrounded in white. He finished pulling the top of the egg off carefully.

The baby Meowth stuck his little head out of the remains of the egg, staring up at Giovanni curiously. "Meowth!" It called out in a little high pitched voice. For a new born, it was certainly loud.

"Aw, so cute!" Delia had witnessed pokemon eggs hatch a few times before, though she was never the first being the pokemon saw; every time it felt special. "Hold him, I'll get a blanket." 

Delia hurried to find a small blanket, rushing back to Giovanni and wrapping the newborn pokemon in it, though she still insisted on making him hold the little Meowth, now wrapped in light blue. 

"This will be a challenge," Delia voiced, although she spoke without worry, but with the excitement of looking forward to it.

Giovanni didn't like where the conversation was going, he didn't think such a tiny creature was really worth too much work. "What do you mean? It's a pokemon, how hard can it be to train it?"

"He's too young and since you were the first living being he saw, he'll be very attached to you," Delia explained, having purposely hidden that fact, which Giovanni soon realized.

"You did that on purpose..." It was a conclusion, rather than a question.

Delia nodded, with no intentions of hiding the truth any longer. "I thought it would do you some good to raise a pokemon since birth. Be good to him, this one is like a child to me after I carried the egg around for so long and kept it warm."

"So he's our child?"

"That's right and that means he'll need special care since he's still a baby. He's too young to go in a pokeball right now. He might meow now and then wanting food or attention. We can't give him regular pokemon food yet, but there is food for baby pokemon that he'll be able to eat," Delia began to go over a mental list of the necessary things to take care of the baby Meowth.

Annoyed by the thought of a baby pokemon constantly demanding attention, Giovanni began to ask, "are you telling me this thing-"

"Don't call our child a thing!" Delia scolded, pouting and pointing, shaking her finger for emphasis.

"Right, sorry..." Giovanni tried to be patient, though there was some sarcasm evident in his tone, "are you telling me our son," it felt odd to call a pokemon his son, "will require constant care?"

"Yes," Delia nodded.

"That he'll cry in the middle of the night wanting milk or something?"

"Yes."

"That he'll need a lot of attention all the time?"

"Yes."

"That you'll have no inconveniences in staying here?"

"Yes-what?" Delia paused and blinked, caught in her automatic affirmations.

Giovanni was a little amused despite the situation, by catching Delia saying yes to everything. "If Meowth is attached to me and stays here, then you need to stay here too, because you're his mother and without your help I'll end up shoving him in a pokeball," he explained as a matter of fact.

Delia took a deep breath and went over the possibilities, before finally agreeing, under certain conditions, "okay fine, I'll share this room with you, but it's just so I can help take care of the baby, nothing else. Stop grinning like that Charmander, this doesn't mean anything!"

"Meowth!" The little pokemon sounded cheerful, amused by his parents, though he didn't really understand what they were talking about.

xoxox xox xoxox

The little Meowth was happy to be perched on Giovanni's shoulder while the Team Rocket leader went about his business every day. Giovanni was annoyed at first; thinking having a cute little baby pokemon on him all the time completely ruined his image. Eventually he got over it, resolving to simply punch or kick anyone who dared to make any comments, but thankfully, no one was stupid or suicidal enough to say anything so it didn't come to that.

As expected, the information from Venom's research led Professor Oak to discover the cure for the terrible epidemic that threatened all pokemon. As agreed, the formula was handed over to Team Rocket and simultaneously submitted for official review and mass production, though that would certainly take time.

While the bureaucracy did its tests, Giovanni rose to power in Viridian City as the new gym leader, using his supply of antidote along with a little pressure to make sure the city gave its approval. Everything went smoothly, exactly as planned.

That was not the only benefit of having the cure first. With it, the sick pokemon that survived the battle with Venom were healed of their illness and were steadily recovering from their physical injuries, thus Team Rocket had many more pokemon at their disposal than they had in a long time. They were ready to take on the smaller gangs to the east all at once, even if they banded together to face the threat. Spreading their territory taking advantage of the shortage of healthy pokemon that still reigned over most of Kanto, brought fast and abundant growth for Team Rocket.

They still stole pokemon from random trainers at times, not just from other gangs. Delia saw taking the pokemon away from the other gangs as rescuing them, but she got angry when she heard a seemingly good trainer had been robbed. It was something that made Delia and Giovanni bicker now and then, though they always made up in the end and found a way to look at the situation differently; a new point of view in which Team Rocket and their relationship appeared to be alright for them both.

With this new power and stability, which was maintained even after the cure was made public and the pokemon in the area began to recover, came abundant riches and resources for Team Rocket. That's when Delia started receiving frequent presents from Giovanni, expensive things, especially diamonds.

She had a golden jewelry box where her diamonds were kept, earrings, bracelets, necklaces, yellow gold with diamonds, white gold with diamonds, diamonds and sapphires, diamonds and rubies, diamonds and emeralds, diamonds bigger than she thought she would ever see. He looked happy to be able to give her those gifts and it was seeing that which was the real gift for Delia.

It was many months later that the promised victory party finally took place. It was a formal event, covered in elegance and riches, though beyond the sparkle of jewelry and the sea of dresses and tuxedoes, Delia saw friends who had become dear to her and a growing love.

It had been that night that many things happened; the picture that Delia would later take with her when she left Team Rocket was taken that very night. At that time, she was happy, and despite their different priorities and goals, she thought she would be with Giovanni forever. She smiled when the picture was taken, not knowing what kind of choices waited in the future.

It was during that party that a special guest slipped in, camouflaged among the multitude of new Team Rocket members. "Is that your girlfriend, brat boy?"

Giovanni knew her, but he couldn't believe she would be there and he was not pleased with her presence. "Why are you here?"

"I just came to see you. It seems you've made a name for yourself, well done. Since I'm retiring, you can have my resources," the woman was old enough to be Giovanni's mother, though she still had a certain youthful appearance for her age with wavy dark hair she wore down and an elegant black dress.

"I don't need your help," Giovanni refused without a second thought, while Delia stared at the unknown woman in confusion.

"I know; that's why I'm giving them to you," she smiled at her own irony. "Well, it's been nice seeing you again, brat boy. Make sure you train my grandchild well enough to handle all this," the woman turned away and started to leave.

"We need better security," Giovanni muttered glaring after her.

Delia suddenly came to a realization about her identity and dashed after the older woman before Giovanni could stop her, "wait! You're Madame Boss, right? Why don't you stay for the party?"

"Oh my, you're so innocent and naive, at least that's what it seems," Madame Boss laughed teasingly. "She has such a good girl face, I bet she's very dangerous, eh, brat boy?"

"Stop calling me that, just hurry up and leave!" Giovanni insisted in annoyance.

Madame Boss looked amused, "You're so stubborn; I bet if you two have a kid, the child will be just as stubborn as you." With those final words of parting, she disappeared between the partying Team Rocket members and was not seen in the party again.

"Giovanni, she's your mother," Delia complained about his behavior, though there was also a hint of support.

"I know; I let her go, didn't I?" That would have to be enough. "C'mon, let's enjoy the party, forget that even happened," Giovanni knew Madame Boss wouldn't cause any more trouble; she had her fun infiltrating their party and annoying him.

It wasn't too long before Delia did forget about the incident and was caught up in the feeling of victory, power and hope that was all around, though what they were hoping for varied from one person to another.

xoxox xox xoxox

As time passed, Team Rocket moved further away from what Delia was hoping it would become, but it wasn't all bad. Giovanni didn't complain about taking care of Meowth anymore. He also showered her with gifts constantly, though Delia insisted he didn't have to do so much, that just spending time together was enough, at least he somehow showed he cared. There were moments during those times of bliss that Delia would treasure for the rest of her life. 

After Team Rocket had taken over the Viridian City Gym, though their presence there remained unknown to the general public beyond simple rumors that would fade in time, those from the police who knew the truths ordered to be secrets by the mayor, eventually began to think that only their boss was there, and their actual base was elsewhere. Team Rocket showed no signs of coming and going, instead extending the underground passages in secret and using them to go in and out of their secret base in Viridian.

Delia was reassured she made the right choice in letting Giovanni raise the little Meowth, she knew it every time she saw them; Meowth always got special treatment. Giovanni still didn't seem to care too much about his other pokemon, but he was nicer to them when Delia was around, and she made sure they were alright. Aside from Meowth, Golem seemed to be his second favorite. 

Giovanni didn't go on missions anymore; he directed them now and did the planning, but that was even more time consuming. Delia took care of his pokemon and gave him her views on Team Rocket's latest activities, which sometimes led to arguments, but they didn't stay angry for long. 

They were aware of their differences, but they were also well aware of what they liked about each other. She could live like this, even if the expensive gifts were a bit excessive at times and there were some disagreements. Giovanni was trying to make her feel more comfortable, she knew that. Maybe he tried to make up for the fact that the reality had sunk in and deep down Delia knew Team Rocket would never be a band of righteous vigilantes. 

It was alright, she could live with it, even if years ago she would have scolded herself for even considering accepting what Team Rocket did. She would still try to make the situation as good as it could be within the range available. Overall, Delia felt appreciated, happy and loved, that was enough.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 18: Give me Trust

Delia stayed with Team Rocket for the pokemon at first, then she chased an impossible dream, trying to turn the organization into defenders of justice. Finally, she realized what Team Rocket truly was and what it was becoming, but she stayed anyway for Giovanni, even if she didn't get to see him often anymore. 

She sighed and looked at the clock again, paced around and decided to lie down, she was tired. She wasn't sure how much time passed until she felt his arrival, and the noticed the light she had left on being turned off. "Giovanni, I miss you..."

"I'll be able to take a break soon, there's too much going on right now. I need to keep Team Rocket organized and restructure it, it's growing so fast!"

She could sense the excitement in his voice beyond the need for rest; Team Rocket was finally becoming the powerful force he wanted it to be. "How come you never include me in your meetings?"

"You'll get bored..." there was a pause as she waited for the truth; he knew she would get it out of him eventually. "I know you don't like that kind of thing, stealing pokemon and things like that, but you'll get used to it, then you can come."

"You know I'll just end up arguing with everyone right now." She knew they had their differences and she didn't think she could get used to his way of seeing the world. But maybe she could try a little harder; he had been patient despite it all and she didn't want to lose everything she had come to treasure. "I'll try to accept Team Rocket for what it is." She still had dear friends there, though they had drifted apart lately, perhaps she could visit them and that would make her feel reassured.

xoxox xox xoxox

Morning came and by the time Delia woke up, Giovanni was already gone, off to direct the new Team Rocket and made sure the organization didn't fall into chaos while it was adapted to be effective with its constant growth and expansion. Meowth was gone as well and was probably napping on Giovanni's lap right now while a strategic meeting took place, one that might be interrupted now and then by the arrival of a trainer wishing to battle for an Earth badge, Giovanni would have to take care of that, he had to keep up appearances after all. Delia couldn't believe it had already been a year since they took the Viridian Gym, though a year felt short looking at how much Team Rocket had expanded. 

After her usual morning activities were completed, Delia checked on the pokemon, made sure they were alright and once that was done, she asked around the large underground base, searching for the location of her friends. 

"I don't know Lady Roketto, please forgive me," she lowered her head, her layered blond hair falling forward over her face and shoulders.

"It's alright," the shy girl reminded Delia of Leah, perhaps that is why she approached her asking if she knew the other girl. It felt a bit strange to be called Lady Roketto, it's not like she was married to Giovanni, though they did have a close relationship and perhaps one day would be married. She could still picture it happening at that time.

"Maybe you should ask the secretary..." The girl shifted a bit uncomfortable, she was clearly a rookie in every way.

"Oh, yes of course, thank you," Delia went off to follow the suggestion, it did make sense to have a secretary, it was impossible for Giovanni to handle the gym related paper work and keep track of Team Rocket's deals and missions by himself when he was so busy meeting with allies and occasionally rivals, as well as battling trainers who wanted a gym badge. Delia should have seen the business-like structure coming with the gang having turned into a large scale organization and more effort being needed to stay functional.

After obtaining the cure for the virus, facing the smaller pokemon gangs and winning with the advantage of healthy pokemon was easy. The raise to power of Team Rocket did not go unnoticed, thus new members joined one after the other and the police backed off fearing they were too much to handle, though they would still go after the individual little teams and try to make arrests in a smaller scale. 

Some of the smaller gangs decided it was best to join Team Rocket, as they would not be able to continue their activities freely as independent gangs. This brought not only more workers to revitalize the laboratories taken from Tempest underground at Viridian, but also more resources with their contacts extended and the gangs' small hideouts now serving as check points for Team Rocket.

Selling the unofficial antidote brought vast riches and opened the doors for a whole new level of negotiations with the laboratories Team Rocket illegally sold pokemon to in the past. They had he coveted formula of the cure ready to produce it before it was officially released, they had power and they had plenty of information useful for blackmail should the need arise. 

Later, Madame Boss' resources came into play, though Giovanni refused them, the former associates of Madame Boss still came to him for business and in the end Delia convinced him to stop being stubborn and take his mother's gift. The resources could be used to make the world a better place, Delia pointed out, which by Giovanni's definition, different from hers, would be eventually taking over. 

xoxox xox xoxox

The inquiry to the secretary was fruitful, though Delia felt a little odd with people instantly recognizing her even if she did not know many of them. She assumed they must have seen her with Giovanni or heard about her from other members. At least she found out where Leah was; she had gone to Pewter City.

Delia looked at the cars sitting at the Viridian Gym driveway; they were expensive and flashy, excessive by her definition. Black and red, both were there, which meant Giovanni's business was local today. She got on the red car, a multitude of lights flashing on in the dash board as she inserted the key and turned it. The radio came on automatically and she let the music flood her head as she drove to Pewter City.

xoxox xox xoxox

Despite being kept out of the meetings where Giovanni predicted she would make a scene, Delia knew about certain details, perhaps Giovanni wanted to inform her little by little, while she got used to how things worked and more so while she accepted them. At least she was glad not to be kept in the dark completely, she knew about the pokemon supply shop in Pewter City, which helped receive and store goods for Team Rocket. Leah would be conducting an inspection on that shop today, according to the schedule.

xoxox xox xoxox

The trip from Viridian to Pewter was relatively fast as the streets were very calm with few cars transiting them. The pokemon supply shop was easy to find and Delia parked the car in front of it, ignoring the curious glances people gave her. 

She wore normal clothes of course, she had not used a Team Rocket uniform in a long time and neither had Giovanni. Though she had thought he looked handsome in a suit, it wasn't until later that it sunk in just how big the changes in Team Rocket were and the consequences they would bring. This was the life he wanted, she mused, so for his sake she would get used to it, even if the extravagant riches made her feel a little guilty remembering how they were obtained. 

Delia went inside the shop as naturally as any other customer would, passing under the pokeball sign above the door next to the glass window and over the red mat with the word 'welcome' in white letters at the door. 

"Welcome, how may I help you?" The young man behind the polished brown wooden counter asked, he had clear blue eyes and his hair was a dark shade of green, almost black.

The shop had a homey feel with wooden shelves rather than the more common metal ones. Everything was kept immaculate and organized with a variety of bottles and sprays lining the shelves in a rainbow of colors. The floor was tiled in a cream color, rather than white, each tile spotless like a mirror. "Hi, is Leah still here?" Delia inquired.

After a moment of silence the man shifted uncomfortably and forced his worry to turn into puzzlement, "I'm afraid I don't know anyone by that name."

The door to the storage room behind the counter opened and Leah quietly emerged, unseen and unnoticed by the man facing Delia. "She's right behind you."

The man automatically looked over his shoulder and jumped slightly at suddenly finding Leah out of the storage room. "Relax," Leah spoke softly, "the merchandise is complete." She then walked around the counter and greeted Delia, "it's been a while, what brings you here?" 

The man from the shop interrupted, somewhat relieved, but still wishing to confirm his theory "you know each other?"

Leah nodded, "Delia is the boss' lover."

"Leah!" Delia turned bright red. For someone so quiet, Leah certainly had a big mouth that time. It was true, but Delia wasn't expecting Leah of all people to say it so directly.

"My apologies Lady Roketto!" He bowed, now looking more worried than before.

"It's fine, don't worry," Delia assured, awkward and embarrassed. Wishing to get out of there as fast as possible she asked Leah, "do you still have things to do here?"

"No, everything is alright, I was going to return to headquarters, but if you want to talk, I have time," Leah's voice came as a barely audible monotone as it had been since Delia found her at the store.

"I do want to talk, let's go to a cafe or something," Delia was quick to suggest, beginning a swift walk out of the store and to her car, her face still felt a little warm. 

xoxox xox xoxox

The streets of Pewter City were not too busy with activity, but people passed by now and then and were seen by Delia and Leah from the glass window of the cafe where they sat. A waiter came and smiled from ear to ear, his pearly teeth seemed a little too large for his thin face and stood out even more than his orange hair. He complimented the "beautiful ladies" with a hopeful glint in his eyes that were either brown or dark green, as they seemed to look different with every glance. Then he took a little white notepad and a yellow pencil from the pocket of his black pants and asked for their order. They had arrived in Delia's car, which could be seen parked out front; he had probably seen it and was hoping for a big tip.

Leah simply ordered a hot chocolate; she preferred that over coffee or any other beverage. Delia was in the mood for something that looked cheerful and ordered a banana-strawberry shake. 

"How have you been?" Delia tried to get the conversation going, wishing with all her heart that it would fall into something natural. She longed for the feeling of trust and friendship that had been fading with time and lack of communication.

"Alright..." Leah's quiet reply didn't convince Delia at all. Her honey colored eyes remained staring at her delicate hands folded on the table. She would occasionally appear to raise her eyes, almost as if to meet Delia's but she stopped in the middle of the table, as if distracted by red floral designs of the white tablecloth, then went back to staring at her hands.

"You don't sound like it," Delia remembered that in the busy times that followed the Viridian Gym take over, she had been focused on taking care of the pokemon and helping Giovanni raise Meowth. Though she had made plans to help Leah get over her past, it never happened and with that memory surfacing after such a long time, Delia felt guilty to have forgotten it in the first place. A lot had happened, but she felt she had no excuse for the big delay on keeping her promise, "is Aayla still..."

The waiter arrived and brought the drinks with his ever present cheer. After another cheesy compliment accompanied by an exaggerated smile, he departed, encouraging them to call him should they need anything. 

After the waiter was gone, Delia asked again, "is Aayla still helping you?" She was pretty sure Leah had heard her the first time and understood the meaning of the incomplete question, but she had made no motion to reply.

After a pause that felt excessively long, Leah shook her head, "Aayla is busy, she doesn't have time for me; she's working with Binks now."

The revelation surprised Delia, Aayla and Binks were as different as night and day. Aayla was brave, she could be dangerously temperamental if provoked and she was precise. Binks was a worrier, he was sometimes easily upset, but didn't go beyond words to defend himself and he was a little clumsy more often than not. Delia couldn't imagine them working together without constant quarrels that led Binks to obtain a few bruises. "What are they doing?"

"Creating the ultimate power, that's what Aayla said, I really don't know." Leah paused, her expression uncertain, though her reply this time had been much faster. Clearly there was something on her mind and it was not about Aayla. She took a sip of her hot chocolate, then set the white mug down and looked at Delia's eyes for the first time since they arrived at the cafe, "he's out there..."

"Who is?" Delia curiously inquired, feeling as if this revelation was very meaningful to Leah.

"Han, he's out there," Leah insisted in a small whisper, filled with more emotion than anyone would think possible for such a soft tone, her serious gaze didn't break away from Delia's eyes for a single second.

"But Han passed away," Delia recalled hearing the story from Aayla right before Team Rocket took over the Viridian Gym. She didn't want to be so direct, but she was confused by Leah's insistence and the words slipped out before she could stop them.

"No, we only thought he did, but the body was never found," Leah's voice was quiet but carrying more emotion with each word, trying to say many things very fast. "He pushed me out of the way during that earthquake in the cave. He saved my life and I thought he was crushed, we all thought so, but it's not true!" She breathed deeply to push back the tears that threatened to fall, "I was so sad I went back to Fuchsia City and locked myself in my room. From what I heard when I finally returned to Cinnabar Island, Luke was in denial for a long time, he kept saying that his brother was alive but was convinced to accept what everyone thought was true, that Han was dead."

Delia wasn't sure how to react, as far as she knew Han had died long ago. If he was alive somewhere, wouldn't he have been found by now? "What makes you say that all of a sudden?" She carefully asked.

"The new hotel, the one being constructed by one of Team Rocket's business allies in Cinnabar Island." The business side of Team Rocket had been expanding, owning various properties and making deals in different markets to guarantee stability if one area faced difficulties. "It's being constructed in the same place where Han was thought to have died. The locals complained, saying that place was a grave. In the end, to avoid unnecessary trouble if a protest was formed, the construction company offered to recover the body the locals were unable to dig out from under the heavy rocks so he may have a proper burial. That convinced the locals to allow it, but the body wasn't there," Leah explained, her eyes shining with hope at the end.

"It has been a long time," Delia voiced gently.

"He wasn't there! There wasn't even a trace, not a shred of fabric, or a bone, there was nothing!" Leah insisted. "Instead they found that the ground was thin under the rocks and though the rocks covered it during the cave in, the ground had partially given in. There was a tunnel under the pile of rocks; Han must have fallen in, that's how he was saved from being crushed. No body was found in the tunnel that was discovered and this time I won't believe he's dead until I see proof." Leah was more determined than Delia had ever seen her.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 19: Give me Power

Leah was determined to find Han wherever he may be and put extra effort into finishing her tasks in Team Rocket quickly so she could go out and search. She would tend to her duties, report back to base and hope to get some time off, though more often than not she was given a miscellaneous task to perform. This didn't really bother Leah as she was usually assigned the tasks she expressed interest in doing, which involved traveling to various places where she would take some time to search for clues.

Delia had returned to the Viridian Rocket headquarters feeling uneasy. Leah had been heartbroken once and Delia feared she would relive the pain or live with false hope, which would only hurt her more. Delia had never met Han, but everything pointed to him being dead, even Leah herself thought so before and Luke had accepted it long ago. 

It wasn't that Delia believed the miraculous escape Leah theorized occurred was impossible. If the ground beneath him had indeed swallowed Han, preventing him from being crushed by the larger rocks that couldn't follow him into the deeper tunnel through the relatively small opening, then there was a chance that he did survive that day. But if that was so, where could he be? No traces of him were found, dead or alive, perhaps he had indeed fallen into a second tunnel, but maybe, instead of having escaped the falling rocks, a layer of rocks small enough to fit through the opening, but large enough to do serious damage had buried him deeper and he was yet to be found. 

The sad one seemed to be the most logical explanation, but Delia dared not voice it to Leah, instead leaving her with an ambiguity about how life goes on. It could have been interpreted as hope to find Han or encouragement to move on all the same.

At headquarters, Delia once again visited the secretary and asked about Aayla, whom she was told was in New Island. Giovanni had mentioned it before; it was a secluded little island where Team Rocket's scientists could conduct their research without fearing their data being stolen. The presence of the laboratories was kept in secret and the island was believed to be deserted.

New Island was too far away to be able to visit today, but Delia could always call. She obtained the number and retired to the living quarters of the Viridian Gym in the upper floor to make the call.

The phone rang several times before someone answered it, Delia didn't recognize the voice, but it seemed that whoever was on the other side recognized the number coming from one of Giovanni's private lines and didn't question her when she asked to speak to Aayla.

"Hello?" Aayla sounded surprised and curious when her voice came through the phone. She had probably not been told who the caller was.

"Aayla, hi! It's Delia, how are you?" Delia greeted as cheerfully as she could despite her mind being occupied with so many questions regarding the changes of Team Rocket and the fate of her friends, especially Leah's situation.

"Delia, it's been ages, what's the high and mighty Lady Roketto doing talking to a peasant?" Aayla teased, "albeit a high ranked peasant."

Delia's mood sincerely improved, laughing together with Aayla who sounded more cheerful than ever before. "I'm sorry; I know I haven't been a very good friend lately. Things have been so busy, but I'm sure you already know that. I've been so caught up in everything, taking care of the pokemon, getting used to the new Team Rocket, or at least trying to. What have you been doing?"

"Creating the ultimate power!" Aayla proudly declared. "It's what Venom tried to obtain and failed," she had always wanted more of a revenge on the man who lied to her and left her for another. This was perfect, the power he so coveted would be hers to wield for the benefit of his enemy, Team Rocket.

Delia felt a cold chill run down her spine at the mention of Venom; the name brought back horrible memories. "What do you mean?"

"You'll see, Binks has been working hard, he better be, because he knows I'll beat him to a bloody puddle if he doesn't. This will be great, you'll see it soon, everyone will!" Aayla cheered, as if her victory was certain.

"It's nothing dangerous, is it? What exactly is this power?" Delia insisted; she was very worried and also thought Aayla sounded odd, a little too loud and cheerful.

"It will be grand!" Aayla laughed, then giggled in the silliest way.

"Aayla? Are you alright?" There was a loud noise, as if the phone had been thrown and damaged, but thankfully not enough to make it stop working. "Hello? Aayla? Are you alright?"

"Hello?" A man spoke this time, "who is this?"

"It's Delia; I was talking to Aayla just now," Delia replied with worry.

"Oh, hi Delia, it's been a long time. This is Binks, do you remember?" His tone changed from disproving to glad after he realized who had called.

"Yes, of course I remember. Is everything alright? I heard a noise just now and is that Aayla laughing hysterically in the background?" Delia found the situation to be all too suspicious and very strange.

"Don't worry about it, it's just a light side effect," Binks assured with a hint of nervousness, though it only made Delia worry more.

"A side effect of what?" Delia firmly inquired.

"The power of pokemon, I'm giving her some DNA, but first some medicines to prepare her body for the process," Binks sounded very much like a child admitting to having caused mischief, with the certainty that he would get caught anyway so he might as well come clean.

Delia's eyes went wide, her expression panicked and disapproving, "it's what Venom wanted for himself?" The images of the mutated Venom returned to her mind vividly, no matter how hard she had tried to forget those moments in the past.

"Yes, but he got it all wrong, he overdid it and tried to make up for it with cybernetic components and surgery. His process was different, adapting his body to be more likely to mutate and to better receive the modifications. This is something else; it's the essence without the extreme changes. Don't worry, Aayla will look exactly the same, but she'll be stronger. I've been doing a lot of research for this." The excitement in Binks' voice overcame his nervousness.

Delia gripped the phone in anger and worry; she couldn't believe they were really doing this despite what happened to Venom and the pokemon. "Stop it immediately! Don't you remember what happened? This is too dangerous!"

"It's different," Binks insisted, "everything will be okay."

"Does Giovanni even know?" Delia would be angry not only at Binks and Aayla, but also at Giovanni if he knew about this and didn't stop them, instead providing them with the resources to continue.

"Of course he knows," Binks assured, "I wouldn't go using his resources without his approval. Delia, this isn't like before, it's perfectly controlled and everything is fully calculated."

"Which is why I can hear Aayla laughing like a crazy person and throwing things in the background?" Delia snapped.

"I told you that's nothing. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must continue with the next stage of the process," Binks sounded uneasy, his excitement giving way to doubt, probably because of the destruction Aayla was causing more so than because of Delia's disapproval.

"You mean restraining Aayla before she hurts herself or someone else? Go do that, but don't do anything else," Delia ordered.

"Delia... I... you..." Binks wasn't sure what to say to such a direct command.

"You need to hear it from Giovanni, is that it? You'll hear it alright!" Delia ended the call. Feeling both furious and panic, she hurried off to find Giovanni.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia went down to the lower levels of the gym again, to the headquarters' main conference room where she expected Giovanni to be. She heard a voice from inside saying something along the lines of "I refuse, I absolutely refuse!"

Not caring to interrupt, she opened the door, scanning the room with a deadly glare, searching for Giovanni. As soon as she had opened the door, the room fell silent, all eyes on her.

The man who had been voicing his refusal towards something unknown to Delia, shifted uncomfortably, while the Team Rocket negotiator sitting across from him took the opportunity to speak. "Ah, Lady Roketto, I wasn't expecting you. I'm sure Mr. Calrissian was just about to accept our offer."

Mr. Calrissian, an older man with gray eyes and matching hair, had been avidly refusing the deal in question, but seeing that the wife of the mafia boss, as he assumed her to be since she was called Lady Roketto, was there, he knew better than to continue to decline so energetically. If she could not convince him, then surely Giovanni would be called to negotiate in person and present a deal that Calrissian could not refuse. Or perhaps Lady Roketto would do that herself, her glare was certainly filled with unparalleled fury. "Yes... well... I think that if we review the specifics one more time, we can come up with something..."

With her rage unwavering, though Mr. Calrissian never knew it was not directed at him, Delia spoke, "sorry for the interruption, please carry on," and left, since Giovanni was not there.

Mr. Calrissian let out a large breath, took a white napkin from his dark gray suit pocket and dried his forehead. He knew dealing with the Roketto would be difficult, but he didn't expect the Lady to show up personally for a relatively small deal. Furthermore, he had heard rumors that she was sweet and innocent, not the kind of woman one would expect to find standing next to a mafia lord. He should have known those rumors were false, she looked far less calm and collected than Giovanni, whom Mr. Calrissian had seen only once, surely she was dangerous and had no tolerance for disagreements.

"Mr. Calrissian," the negotiator representing Team Rocket, a man in his twenties with dark hair and eyes, dressed in a black suit with a small red R on the left side of the blazer, looked more confident now, "if you please, let us finish the final review promptly." He emphasized the word 'final', watching with satisfaction as Mr. Calrissian nodded, the color still drained from his face.

xoxox xox xoxox

Her search for Giovanni led Delia to the battle arena of the Viridian Gym. She didn't storm in and drag him away as she had a mind to do if it had been a meeting. Instead she watched quiet and unseen in the shadows below the platform where Giovanni stood; there was no need to involve an innocent trainer in their argument. Giovanni's Golem had just defeated the opposing trainer's Hitmonchan, the final pokemon judging by the look of defeat on the boy's face as he recalled his fainted Hitmonchan.

After the trainer had left without the badge he came for, and Golem had been called back into his pokeball, Giovanni stepped down from the platform to find Delia waiting and she looked furious. "If you glare like that all the time, Team Rocket will really be feared."

Delia was not amused, she placed her left hand on her hip and pointed at Giovanni with her right index finger, "Giovanni Roketto," she paused, feeling her face become red with anger as she changed her preplanned speech for a scolding of "stop grinning at me!" She felt like stomping her feet, "this isn't funny!"

"Yes it is!" He laughed in amusement before putting his arm around her waist and leading her away from the now empty arena, down the halls of the Viridian Gym. "What's bothering you? You look like," he searched for an accurate comparison, "a Voltorb about to explode."

"Did you know that-" Delia began to explain but was interrupted.

"Sir! Great news, we got the deal!" The young man, who had been negotiating with Mr. Calrissian before, ran down the hall to catch up with Giovanni. 

Giovanni looked pleased with the news, "excellent, I didn't think you could pull that off."

"The credit goes to Lady Roketto I must admit. It was only because she was there that the negotiations' atmosphere became favorable. Everything is expected to flow on schedule with no complications. I was just on my way down to the office to finish submitting the paper work."

"Good, go take care of that then, things will be easier now."

"Yes sir!" The negotiator left, looking quite cheerful.

"Well done," Giovanni complimented Delia, "I knew you would eventually understand. It seems you're ready to participate in Team Rocket's business more directly after all."

Delia sighted hopelessly, not fully certain of what she had done. Her fury had dissolved into a feeling of helpless confusion, but she still remembered her important mission. "Did you know that Binks is experimenting with Aayla?"

"That's no surprise," Giovanni replied with no hint of alarm, "he always liked her, but he didn't have the guts to say it. If I had to take a guess, I think the outcome will be that Binks ends up with a black eye and a few broken bones if he's lucky, from what I've heard Aayla is not gentle when rejecting a man."

"I don't mean he's flirting, he's doing genetic experiments with her, I mean on her, she's the subject, the guinea-pig!" Delia stressed urgently.

Giovanni paused, as if remembering some scene in the past when he learned of such intentions and his own reply that communicated the message that he wasn't really interested, but would not be bothered if it was done. He decided to leave it to the scientific probabilities to make the final choice, depending on the likeliness of success. "So they went through with it. I told Binks I doubted it would work, but left the final choice to the test results."

"So you really did know!" Delia's fury returned full force. "You knew and you didn't stop them?"

"I'm not their babysitter," Giovanni began to sound annoyed, his previous good mood fading fast.

"You know what happened to Venom and to all those modified pokemon and you let one of your friends," she made a small oddly placed pause then continued; "best team members throw her life away? I thought you were a good leader, is it that now you have so many resources that you don't mind throwing a few away for the greater purpose? Is that what they are, resources? What happened to the leader that made sure everyone had a pokemon to defend themselves with, even if it meant keeping only one to himself during the shortage? What happened to the leader who knew his team, their strengths and weaknesses and could value each member in a strategy? Giovanni, what happened to you? Was this where you wanted to stand all along? They're doing this with your resources and that makes you responsible, it makes you able to stop them, it makes it so that they wouldn't dare do anything without your approval. How could you give it?"

"You don't need to get attached to people like them. I thought you were ready to take your place."

"My place?" Delia closed her eyes in silent wrath, her body trembling with rage. Was she supposed to be a high and mighty queen too proud to see her subjects were living beings? Did Giovanni expect her to stand by his side looking down on pokemon and humans alike as nothing but tools?

"Delia, don't you understand?" He pulled her close, held her tightly and for just a moment, the illusion was back.

He had dreams of power and he wasn't willing to stop for anything, but somehow, he wanted her to follow him to the top. To support his dream, to justify his methods; perhaps to see only him, disregarding other beings; she understood on that moment. Just as she saw him for what he could be, more so that for what he was, he saw her in the same way, he saw what she could become, what he could turn her into. 

Was it the challenge? Was it because people want what is hard to obtain? Was it that image of what could be, but would not be? Were the traces of those other versions of themselves reflected in their current selves enough to keep them together? Was it the feeling of obtaining what conscious or strategy deemed as forbidden?

"Giovanni, this is a mistake, you said yourself that you don't even believe it will work. Tell them to stop, whatever curiosity you may have isn't worth this." Delia was crying but she couldn't feel the tears, though she knew they were there because his image was blurry. She tried to keep her voice even, she wouldn't give up yet and she didn't want to push him to give up on her.

He listened without a word, though he looked impatient and displeased.

"The only way to wield a pokemon's power is to train that pokemon. Humans and pokemon complement each other, the power and the strategy. Why else would creatures with such power let themselves be trained by humans? A single being can't have everything; it would be unrealistic to believe it's possible. I thought you were able to understand what's possible and what's not, and that's why you can use what's available successfully. I know you have your dream and I know you won't give up but this is..."

She trailed into silence, her voice's volume decreasing to nothing, then he finally spoke sounding a little calmer than he looked but still annoyed, "a useless effort?"

Delia took a deep breath and tried to find the correct way to present the situation, "this time, I won't be an advocate of justice. This time I speak as your ally and tell you that this kind of experiment will only result in negative consequences for Team Rocket."

"I don't intend to dedicate New Island to this, it's nothing but research. I do believe what you said, about wielding the power of pokemon. This is only data for the true purpose of New Island," Giovanni finally revealed.

"What do you mean?" Delia wasn't sure she would like his explanation any better than what she knew so far.

"The legendary, that's what I want; I want to capture legendary pokemon, a pokemon thought to be extinct. I want to bring it back, I want Mew," the traces of anger and annoyance in Giovanni's voice gave way to excitement. "I'll be invincible with such power, the very best, like no one ever was."

"Then go study Mew's ruins or something!" Delia had gotten so used to justifying Giovanni in her mind, in part to make her own attachment to him feel like less of a contradiction to her principals, that she was already beginning to do so. To save an extinct race, to give the lost legendary another chance to live; from a certain point of view, when sugar coated and properly phrased, it almost sounded noble. 

"Ruins?" Though it was a hasty argument by Delia, Giovanni was curious as to why she would mention ruins. His expression changed to a mix of puzzlement and interest.

"Pokemon archeology, Professor Oak used to be interested in that, he has a lot of old drawings from when he was young. He told me his interest began after seeing a legendary when he was a young pokemon trainer, but no one really believed him and after a while he had a few doubts. I think he really did see something; he had that look as if he held on to some unfinished mystery that he would one day solve. Either way, he said he decided to study pokemon in general instead, it seemed more reachable."

"Do you think he would give you a copy of his legendary pokemon research?" Giovanni's interest had been captured; he was fascinated by legendary pokemon.

"The research is old, but I'm pretty sure he still has a copy and wouldn't mind giving it to me." This was true, if anything, Professor Oak would be happy that someone expressed interest in his old research. Albeit he had not worked in that specific area in years, Oak's interest in Celebi and later Mew had been strong long ago. It was from his files that Delia had read about Mew and the last places where it was seen. "You should have told me you were interested in Mew. You should get the New Island facilities ready for an all out research project right away."

Giovanni nodded, wishing he had told her, then she would have shared her information sooner, but overall he was pleased with the possibility of finding clues about Mew and his general mood improved once more. "If it is as good as you make it sound..."

"It is," Delia had calmed down. From her point of view, archeology seemed like a much safer interest for Giovanni to have in comparison to genetics. Giovanni's scientists could experiment on rocks, minerals and fossils as much as they wanted and Delia would be okay with it. She would do her best to keep Giovanni interested in the subject and hopefully give New Island a clearer purpose with better methods. 

Furthermore, if Binks was busy studying archeological findings and Aayla was needed on the field to keep the research team organized and make sure the data was safely delivered to headquarters, it would lead Giovanni to cancel their dangerous project in favor of something that interested him more.

To be Continued


	5. Part 5

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 20: Give me Attention

The next day Delia was surprised to find Giovanni was still there when she woke up, awake but unmoving. She couldn't believe he was only resting, she didn't think he did that anymore and the focused look in his eyes confirmed it. No doubt about it he was plotting, the question was: what was he plotting about? "Good morning."

She waited a moment, until he focused on her, "morning," he still sounded distracted.

"Are you okay? You're never half asleep." He didn't look like he was sick; at least he didn't present any symptoms Delia could identify. In fact, he was too focused to be burned by any sort of illness.

"I was thinking," Giovanni confirmed, "do you really believe that Mew research will lead to anything?"

"I'm sure it will," Delia encouraged him without giving it too much thought. She wanted his interest to stay on Mew, on something safe. "Just think about it, having a pokemon that no one else has, an elite legendary on a class of its own."

He liked the idea and it showed on his face. "I'll be truly unstoppable."

"Yes, exactly!" She didn't like his plans to take over the world, but she would cross that bridge if they ever came to it. For now she just had to guide his research towards something that didn't harm her friends' health. "Did you call New Island yesterday? Don't forget they're going to be very busy with the Mew research so you need to give them a heads up."

"I'll do that when I see how good the information is," Giovanni replied and it made Delia pout in dissatisfaction, to which he added, "shall we leave now?"

"We?" She questioned in puzzlement.

"To Pallet Town," Giovanni voiced as a matter of fact.

"I thought you would be busy all day like always, but you're coming with me?" Her expression was surprised, but pleasantly so, if anything this further showed his interest in the research.

"I want to talk to Oak and everything is finally running smoothly right now, Team Rocket won't fall apart if we take one day off," Giovanni explained, noticing the change in Delia's face.

Delia smiled at the thought, pushing her worries to the back of her mind automatically and unconsciously, as she had grown accustomed to doing. Delia missed spending time with Giovanni, it would be wonderful to go to Pallet Town and spend the day together there. Maybe they could go for a walk at Professor Oak's research lab, with the pokemon revitalized and more abundant, it must be as beautiful as before the epidemic, Giovanni didn't get the chance to see it like that before. 

Then Delia remembered the urgency of stopping Binks and Aayla and mentally scolded herself for thinking of taking the day off to go on a date with Giovanni, instead of focusing on making sure they didn't get hurt. However, the fact still stood that Giovanni had to tell them to halt their experiments or they wouldn't listen. 

"Let's go," Delia got up in a hurry and quickly got ready for the day. The sooner Giovanni became interested in Professor Oak's research, the better, and for that they had to get to Pallet Town.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Giovanni, hurry up, we have to go," Delia rushed him for the third time that morning as she paced impatiently around their room.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Giovanni was attempting to make his hair stay as it should; no serious mafia lord went out with his hair sticking out in every direction. "And since when do you take less time than me to get ready?"

'Since my friends' lives depend on it,' Delia thought. "I'm sure Professor Oak is already awake and feeding the pokemon their breakfast, he won't mind if we arrive early," she insisted trying to make her urgency sound casual rather than annoyed.

"I don't think he's going anywhere and neither is his research. Trust me, I want to see it as soon as possible, but there's no need to rush over, we have the whole day." Furthermore, his hair was being stubborn today and he couldn't just grab a pokemon league cap and hide it like when he was a little boy.

"You're only saying that because you don't believe the research is all that great. You must have thought about it and decided it couldn't be, because otherwise Professor Oak himself would still be chasing after Mew, right?" Delia rapidly explained her theory, not stopping to breathe until all the words were spoken.

"You read me like a book," Giovanni confessed, "you have to admit it is logical to think of it that way."

"You forget one thing, Professor Oak isn't trying to take over the world," Delia reminded with a tone that hinted she knew she would win this argument. She wasn't really worried about the global take over plans right now, she had done some thinking too and such a feat was just too difficult. As for the current argument, Delia knew she had given Giovanni a good enough reason to throw his doubts out the window and once again become excited about the prospect of learning more about Mew.

"Good point," Giovanni credited, finally satisfied with his appearance. He took the sleeping Meowth in his arms and followed Delia out of their room, "I'm driving."

"Why can't I?" Delia complained, though not in a very insistent tone, she didn't care who drove as long as they got there.

"Because you're in a rush and our hostage act won't work again if we repeat the chase scene through Viridian," Giovanni reminded, a little amused by the memory. He was in a generally good mood that morning.

This time Delia's smile was sincere, not because of a trivial victory in an argument or a point well spoken. She was fond of those memories, though she had been frightened at the time, now she treasured those moments. "I say the same to you!"

xoxox xox xoxox

The drive to Pallet Town went without incident. When they arrived, the town was the same as always, with its rustic dusty streets, lack of commercial activities and low number of residents. Time seemed to stand still upon entering the town and Delia imagined herself in that same town, on a different era. The radio hadn't been playing those songs, the sounds wouldn't have been so well defined and that car didn't run as smoothly as this one, which was indifferent to the changes on the levels of the road.

The baby that lay on her lap was the same one back then, but in a very different form, not yet born. Meowth had been only an egg at the time, instead of the little pokemon who was still mostly asleep. Yet he occasionally half-opened his eyes curiously, before closing them again, purring as Delia gently petted him. He moved his tail to the sound of the music contently and continued to exist between reality and dreams.

The presence of a limousine ahead was immediately noticed by both Giovanni and Delia, as its shiny white form contrasted sharply with the lived in appearance of the environment around it. Despite it looking out of place, Giovanni didn't give it a second thought, being this close to the location of the Mew research files made him impatient to read them all of a sudden. He drove past the limousine towards Professor Oak's research laboratory at the end of the road.

As they passed, Delia saw an elegantly dressed couple standing outside of the limousine on the side of the road, with a little blue haired boy next to them. The boy despite appearing to be a little too young to be an official pokemon trainer, held a tiny Growlithe in his arms and examined his surroundings as if it was the first time he ever saw a place like this. 

With the car moving further away, Giovanni and Delia didn't catch the conversation that followed between the couple and their son. Delia might have told them a thing or two if she had heard. 

"You see James?" The man spoke, "this is a peasant town."

"Oh!" The boy, whose name was James stared in awe, then turned to his parents, "if this is a town, where are the houses?"

"Right in front of you, son," the man had an air of incredulity, not because of the boy's question, but because he too found it hard to believe that people actually lived in the small and worn structures. 

"But they're smaller than Growlie's dog house!" James exclaimed; he suddenly felt terribly sorry for anyone who had to live in such a place.

"That's why you have to be a good boy and do everything we say," the lady warned. "Everything we tell you is for your own good, so that you may grow up to be a fine young gentleman who marries a fine young lady. If you don't, you might end up poor when you grow up and you'll have to live in a place like this."

James was visibly frightened; "I'll be good!" He was sure nothing could be worse than living in a place like this, not that he had to worry about it, his life was all set. Tomorrow, servants would spend the day preparing everything for the party that would be celebrated the next day. 

It was an engagement party that would announce that Jessiebelle was to become his fiance, she gave the impression of being a nice girl as far as James could tell, and she was cute, though he hadn't really had a chance to spend time with her. After he grew up and got married, he would do whatever his father did all day and live a happy life with everything he wanted, at least that's what James had pictured at the time.

xoxox xox xoxox

Away from the rich little family, at the end of the road, Giovanni parked his black car in front of the steps leading to professor Oak's research lab and they saw that the gates at the entrance leading to the stairs were closed. "I wonder what happened," Delia mused aloud, "it's unusual for the lab to be closed at this time of the day. Maybe we should ask the neighbors where Professor Oak went." 

"How would they know?" Giovanni was considering reliving his thieving days and breaking in, his need to read about Mew had continued increasing as they approached and his curiosity could wait no longer.

"It's a small town, Giovanni," Delia reminded him of the obvious, though he still didn't understand, "what I mean is that everyone knows everyone. Whatever happened, the entire town will know."

"There's no privacy around here," Giovanni observed, imagining a group of stereotypical gossiping old ladies discussing every detail of their neighbor's lives.

Before they could further discuss the issue, they heard the sound of an approaching vehicle and saw the limousine stop behind their car, though the car was not in the way, leaving a big enough space for them to drive by if those had been their intentions. 

The driver left the engine running and got out to open the door for his lord and lady. The couple exited the limousine and stood unsure, whispering to each other, as if the determination they had formed dissolved as soon as they stepped out. Their young son hopped out cheerfully, the Growlithe still in his arms. "Mama, Papa, is that a real live ma-"

"Yes, a Meowth!" The lady quickly interrupted. 

Her husband had spotted Giovanni's car and simply had to inquire about it. He would love to add one just like it to his collection. She had warned him that though in a way those people looked somewhat similar to them, they were not like them at all.

"The upper class is the upper class," he had brushed off her concerns. 

"But dear, the mafia may have riches, yet they are barbaric!" The lady had insisted in vain. 

Now that same lady had to stop her son, who loved to watch gangster movies, from angering that dangerous man. She never really approved of James watching those movies, but she didn't have the heart to say no. "I apologize," she hid her worried expression behind her elaborate jeweled fan, "my son loves pokemon. James, sweetie, apologize."

James wasn't sure what was going on, but he had told his parents he would listen to them and he certainly didn't want to be poor when he grew up so he did as he was told, "I'm sorry, please excuse me."

Delia smiled, not understanding why the woman was so upset, the boy had not really been disrespectful, he was simply curious, though it looked like he was pointing at Giovanni more so than Meowth. "It's alright," Delia, currently carrying Meowth, kneeled down to the boy's eye level, "you can pet Meowth if you want and what a cute Growlithe you have."

James smiled brightly, delighted that this lady would not only allow him to pet her pokemon, but she had also complimented Growlie. "Thank you!" James cheered happily, while his mother paled and laughed nervously.

The lady turned to her husband, linking her arm with his, in an indication that it was time to leave. He caught the hint and decided to humor his wife, thanking Giovanni for the information and retreating to the safety of the limousine, along with their son and his Growlithe.

As the white limousine began to move again, little James waved goodbye from the window, with a big smile on his face. The boy didn't understand why his parents looked so upset, but from what he could gather, at least they were not upset at him.

"That was risky and unnecessary," the lady pouted indignantly, as if she had been terribly offended.

The husband knew she had been frightened, but he thought she could handle it, he didn't think she would end up this upset. "I'm sorry dear, but I did get him to tell me where he purchased his car, though he refused to reveal where he had it customized. At least I can say I still have a good eye for being able to tell when a good car is custom made, yet I could have guessed where he purchased it from by the brand, what I really wanted to know was who customized it, such a splendid job they did."

"Dear, you don't need a car armed with missiles, that's probably why he didn't tell you, he didn't want to give away too much weapon related information," the lady scolded, still disgraced.

"Missiles? I couldn't tell if it had missiles or not, what makes you think it did? Ah, my love for cars is rubbing off on you my dear; you've become more observant of their details. Do tell, what gave it away?" When his wife did not respond, he finally understood she was being sarcastic about the missiles, though the possibility still remained in their minds. He breathed deeply and took her hands in his, "what is bothering you my love? I believe you are upset over something else other than my affection towards cars. Did the mafia criminal really frighten you this much? If so, I apologize for putting you through that."

The lady remained quiet for a few seconds, her gaze downcast; then she looked up, staring into her husband's eyes with fire reflected in hers. "Did you not see her necklace? I bet she doesn't have any idea of its true value, wearing it so casually in peasant territory. It's the crescent moon diamond, the same one I wanted but they said it had already been sold, that they received an offer they couldn't refuse!"

Her husband attempted to console the lady, "there, there, I'm sure it was bought with threats rather than money, we're obviously far richer. If an auction had been properly carried out, we would have won easily, those mafia people cheated. Don't worry, I'll get you a lot of new jewelry to wear at James' engagement party, something even more valuable than the diamond you wanted, maybe one shaped like a full moon or even the sun instead of only a crescent moon."

The lady sighed deeply as she imagined the lovely gem, "thank you, dear."

xoxox xox xoxox

"Why didn't you tell that man where you customized your car?" Delia curiously asked after the limousine was gone, she had been half listening to their conversation.

"He didn't look like the type who needed missiles in a car that would just sit in a garage somewhere anyway. Besides, it's a secret," Giovanni spoke so naturally that Delia wasn't sure if he was kidding about the missiles.

"Does it really...?" She didn't need to fully voice her question as it was written all over her face.

"It's only a precaution, I don't expect to need them," Giovanni assured. "You know I like spy movies and I always wanted car like that," he confessed. Delia wasn't sure if she should scold him or laugh, but before she could decide, he seemed to remember something and spoke the same words he had voiced in the past, "I'll protect you."

"This time it's even more like a spy movie!" She laughed cheerfully and the true purpose of their visit to Pallet Town was for the time being thrown to the back of her mind again. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 21: Give me Mischief

"Giovanni, get down from there!" Delia scolded, though Giovanni did not listen, instead going over the brick fence and coming into view on the other side behind the row of metal bars of the gates. Delia sighed hopelessly and effortlessly parted the gates, letting herself in.

"That was open? But you said it was closed!" Giovanni stared in disbelief, feeling ridiculous for climbing over the fence.

"The gates were closed; I didn't say they were locked. Generally, people around here know that when something is closed it should not be opened without permission. Now let's go ask the neighbors when Professor Oak will be back." Though Delia tried to stop him, Giovanni was already going up the stairs and to the front door. "Giovanni Roketto, get back here!" She rushed after him, despite knowing he wouldn't listen and followed him inside the house.

"What kind of a fool doesn't lock the door when leaving the house?" Giovanni couldn't believe Professor Oak hadn't already been robbed of all his pokemon, research and even his furniture if this was how he did things, though it was understandable that no one would want to steal his couch. If Giovanni had not declared Pallet Town as Rocket territory, the smaller gangs might have fled there, ending the peace of the town, but they dared not venture into the land of Team Rocket.

"You'll regret this," Delia warned with a tone that hinted she held a vital piece of information that Giovanni did not know. But as expected, he didn't listen and ventured deeper into the house.

Delia had communicated with Professor Oak by video phone a few times after the Viridian Gym take over so she knew of a certain pokemon that had fully recovered from the past epidemic. Regardless of that, she had to pause and take note of a specific detail that inevitably caught her eyes, "there's a new couch." Albeit the old rock hard one was still there as well, matching the new one perfectly, at least in color, even if their texture was quite different as Delia found out when she sat down, "it's so soft!"

Meowth agreed and curled up on the edge of the backrest of the comfy couch, the little pokemon liked napping in the highest part of any piece of furniture. Giovanni sat down next to Delia, she hadn't sounded like she was bluffing when she said he would regret breaking into Professor Oak's house, though he didn't need to actually break anything to get in. Either way, nothing had gone wrong so far, "where's the ultimate doom that was supposed to jump out at me?"

"It's here alright, I'm sure; you just haven't crossed the line yet. Professor Oak won't mind too much if we wait for him in the living room, even if I still think it's rude to come in uninvited. He's going to think you're giving me bad habits," she paused, going over her own words in her mind, "you are giving me bad habits. Honestly Giovanni, you're a terrible example to follow."

"But you follow me anyway," he kissed her, taking her by surprise.

"Not now Charmander, what if Professor Oak comes in?" Delia consciously looked towards the window, but found the path in front of the house to be deserted.

"Shall we go to the guest room from before? I'm sure it has a lock," Giovanni suggested, he knew Delia would never agree, though he would oppose no arguments against it in the unlikely event that she did.

"Very funny," Delia pouted, then paused, observing his expression with a hint of surprise in her face, "you weren't kidding?"

"I owe you some attention," he admitted, "didn't you say you missed me?"

"I understand you've been busy restructuring Team Rocket and keeping it stable and I've been wanting to have a real date with you for a while, but that doesn't mean you have to be such a Charmander," Delia laughed, at least he listened when she expressed that she missed him and remembered it.

"Scolding me isn't effective if you look so happy," Giovanni pointed out.

"I'm happy because we get to spend the day together and I can show you around the research lab, this place will look very beautiful with healthy pokemon all around," Delia tried to explain, while in the back of her mind something told her this was no time to relax, but unconsciously she pushed it away.

The scene was interrupted by a low, rough growl. The Charizard was clearly old, his scaly red-orange skin was lightly wrinkled and his voice was lower than that of an average Charizard, but his claws and teeth still looked sharp.

"So this is what you were trying to warn me about, I don't see the danger, this Charizard is ancient, I bet it can't even breathe fire anymore," Giovanni was relaxed, indifferent to the Charizard's presence until Delia pushed him down all of a sudden. "Why did you-" he didn't finish the question before it became obvious why she did this, the couch was on fire and it would have been his head otherwise.

"Cloyster, water gun!" Delia sent out her pokemon, who assumed this was a battle against Charizard and attacked. "No! Not on Charizard, on the couch!"

Charizard, despite recognizing Delia as a past student of his trainer, Samuel Oak, was angered by her companion's disrespect and her sudden attack. He began to use flame thrower, trying to hit Cloyster. Meowth, who had jumped off the couch immediately after it caught on fire, was upset that his parents were apparently being attacked and jumped on Charizard from behind, sinking his tiny claws into the larger pokemon's left wing.

Charizard roared loudly and tried to get the little Meowth off his wing, ignoring Delia's attempts to apologize and calm him. At the same time she tried to put out the fire that had invaded Professor Oak's living room. 

Giovanni joined the battle too, sending out one of his pokemon to fight, "Golem, earthquake!" The house shook harshly, pictures on the walls fell, lamps and vases were knocked over and the fire remained unaffected, though Charizard lost his balance and fell forward.

"You're not helping!" Delia yelled, now the living room was an even bigger mess.

"We can't fix this mess until we knock out that Charizard!" Giovanni argued.

The little Meowth, dizzy from being shaken around, took the opportunity to run to his daddy. The tiny feline pokemon attached himself to Giovanni's right leg hugging it with his paws and wrapping his tail around the man's ankle. Meowth stayed perfectly still that way, with his eyes closed, firmly holding on for dear life, that big fire pokemon was scary.

"You made it so we have no choice!" Delia retorted, "go Kingler, let's finish this quick, attack together, Kingler water pulse, Cloyster water gun!" The simultaneous attacks were enough to knock out the old Charizard and from there, putting out the flames was easy since they weren't constantly relit.

"That takes care of that," Giovanni seemed fairly satisfied with the outcome despite the mess.

"Look at this place!" Delia was furious, "how am I going to face Professor Oak ever again? The new couch is charred! The only thing that survived unharmed is that old couch that's as hard as an Onix!"

"If you had told me about the Charizard from the start-" Giovanni began to defend himself, but was interrupted.

"You're so stubborn; you shouldn't have insulted Professor Oak's Charizard!" Delia took a deep breath, "alright, calm down, we can solve this. Team Rocket has done cover ups for more serious things, right?"

Giovanni decided that it was best not to reply to that.

"Okay, a plan, we need a plan, we need time. Right, time, I'll go out in case Professor Oak comes back and distract him, meanwhile, you can fix this," Delia insisted, her voice urgent and her expression stressed.

"Is this really necessary?" Giovanni didn't think so; it was Oak's own fault for leaving the door unlocked.

"I'm sure Professor Oak didn't write everything he knows about Mew in his files and there's really no way for us to determine exactly how much he knows. Taking that into consideration, it will serve you well to stay on his good side so that he feels encouraged to tell you everything. You can't force it out of him because there's no way to know if he's telling the truth anyway. The only thing you'll have to confirm that he's being honest is trust and this disaster zone does not inspire trust," Delia reasoned, stopping to catch her breath at the end of her long and hasty explanation.

"Neither does Team Rocket," Giovanni pointed out.

"Professor Oak helped Team Rocket in the past, who is to say he won't do it again? Unless you trash his living room for no reason, that would certainly be a good motivation not to help," Delia countered.

"It was his own pokemon that-"

"Stop being stubborn, please, just fix it!" Delia pleaded. "This isn't what I had in mind for today."

Giovanni looked confident despite everything that had happened. "Do you think I can't do it? Give me twenty minutes."

"I'm counting on you," focused, hopeful, but a little disbelieving, Delia rushed out of the house, down the stairs and out the front gates. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Outside, Delia found Professor Oak just in time, walking up the street towards his residence. She smiled casually and greeted him, "good morning!" He must have seen her emerge from beyond the gates to his house, though from this angle he couldn't have seen that she had been inside the house. "I came to visit, since it's been such long time, I knocked on the door but no one answered."

"It's good to see you again in person! I went to make a little house call, there are no pokemon doctors in this town so sometimes I have to step in," Professor Oak's expression had been tired, but he was once again his usual cheerful self after seeing Delia. "We can go back to the lab now and catch up."

Delia stalled, trying to sound natural, "where was your house call, is everything alright?"

"Oh yes, everything is fine, Mrs. Alderaan's Bellsprout had the hiccups and she was worried, you know how she can get, always worrying about every little thing. Then she goes on and on about the latest thing Bellsprout did that she thought was cute. It took me a while to reassure her that Bellsprout was fine and convince her I was busy and couldn't stay to listen to her stories all day." Professor Oak had stopped in the middle of the road, he had attempted to resume his walk to his house, but when Delia didn't move, he paused as well.

"Poor Mrs. Alderaan, maybe we should go back and reassure her some more," Delia suggested with well acted concern and a look of innocence in her eyes.

Professor Oak laughed, assuming she was kidding; Delia should know very well how Mrs. Alderaan was with her long stories and abundant worries.

"Also, it's been such a long time since I've seen her," Delia continued, indicating that she was not joking, "let's go say hi, then we can catch up and talk about pokemon," she started down the street towards Mrs. Alderaan's house, hoping that Professor Oak would follow.

"Wait, Delia, you're serious about visiting her? She's a nice lady and all, but... well, you know how she gets," the entire town knew to avoid getting her started on one of her stories.

"Come on, it's been ages, I don't want her to think I've forgotten about her," Delia smiled sweetly.

"Well, good luck, I'll be at the lab as usual, come by whenever you can," Professor Oak once again continued his walk up the street, thinking to himself that Delia would most likely regret her visit to Mrs. Alderaan, until once more she stopped him.

"Wait! You have to come with me because... Because Mrs. Alderaan might have forgotten about me and I don't want her to think I'm just some crazy stranger pretending to be her friend," Delia insisted.

Professor Oak had been her teacher and occasionally her father figure for a long time and wouldn't fall for her act so easily. "You're hiding something, aren't you?"

"Who, me?" Delia shook her head vigorously, "of course not!" She knew she was messing things up, but even with their best act neither she nor her friends from their days as Professor Oak's students could get away with any kind of mischief undiscovered for too long. Professor Oak wasn't harsh when he caught his students getting into mischief, as he viewed it as only innocent curiosity, but the fact that he would always eventually figure out there was something going on ended up making them doubt their acting abilities, thus affecting them to be discovered even sooner.

"Hmm..." Oak scratched his chin, his expression focused, "I really have no idea what it could possibly be." It couldn't be childish mischief; Delia hasn't gotten into anything like that in years. It couldn't be a surprise celebration; there was no occasion, no birthday, anniversary or holiday. "Alright, I give up, but are you sure about visiting Mrs. Alderaan?"

"Well..." as Delia continued to stall, a motorcycle zoomed by next to them, disappearing at the end of the road after turning behind the hill and presumably going around it further down the road. 

"I wonder who that was," Professor Oak observed, "earlier I saw a limousine from Mrs. Alderaan's living room window. It's so unusual for Pallet Town to have visitors and so many on the same day."

"I saw the limousine too, why do you think it was here?" Delia tried to continue the conversation as long as possible.

"I really don't know," the attempt was unsuccessful.

Taking a deep breath, Delia knew she had no choice but to bring up a topic she hoped she didn't need to use. Professor Oak might end up talking for far longer than the time needed to cover up the incident in his living room. "Remember that little Meowth that hatched out of the egg I was taking care of?"

"Ah yes, you mentioned Giovanni was taking care of him," Oak recalled, his curiosity became evident.

"I was worried he wouldn't have the patience to deal with a baby pokemon, but he took such good care of Meowth. He can eat regular pokemon food now, though Giovanni would always feed him, until recently at least. I guess Meowth thought he was being nice when he tried to share his food with Giovanni and shoved a pokemon treat in his mouth. Giovanni was completely taken by surprise and swallowed it!" Delia knew Giovanni wouldn't be happy about his secret being revealed, but she had to keep Professor Oak distracted.

Oak laughed whole heartedly, "that reminds me of when my son used to feed his vegetables to the pokemon and eat their food instead; then he would say it was sharing so it was good. I once tasted pokemon food too; it was a specially prepared kind of food with a high content of vitamins. I was taking care of a Mankey who really needed the vitamins, but the stubborn Mankey wouldn't eat until I tried the food first!"

Delia joined Professor Oak in laughter at the story, encouraging him to continue sharing more tales. The conversation continued until Giovanni arrived, making his way down the street with Meowth still attached to his leg. "Did you have a nice walk?" Delia greeted him.

"Yes, very nice," Giovanni played along, though he was annoyed because he couldn't get Meowth off.

"It's been a while," Professor Oak commented sounding a little uncertain, his expression becoming neutral. He knew who Giovanni was and often worried for Delia, but she was an adult free to make her own choices, plus she appeared to be alright. "That Meowth is certainly attached to you," his previous smile returned to Oak's face with the amusing scene.

"Too attached sometimes," Giovanni tried once again to remove Meowth, but again it did not work and he didn't want to pull the little pokemon away too hard. He didn't want to risk making Meowth sink his tiny claws beyond the fabric and into his skin.

"Shall we go to my place?" Professor Oak finally asked, "I'm a little behind in feeding the pokemon this morning; I hope you don't mind that I take some time to do that."

Delia glanced at Giovanni who discreetly nodded, then smiled in relief, trusting whatever solution he might have come up with. "Yes, let's go."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 22: Give me Knowledge

As Professor Oak reached for the door knob of his house's main entrance, Delia held her breath until he led his guests inside, to the perfectly clean and orderly living room. Delia felt Giovanni glance at her as if wanting credit for the cover up, but she refused to look back at him, remembering the mess was his fault to begin with, though that did not change the fact that the cover up was amazing.

"Guess what?" Professor Oak cheerfully asked, as one does when having full intentions of giving the news before anyone actually has the chance to guess. "I got a new couch!" He patted the piece of furniture, "but I didn't have the heart to throw out the old one, so I made sure they matched."

"It's very nice," Delia observed with true amazement. 

"Didn't you need to do something with the pokemon," Giovanni suddenly asked, he was clearly improvising and Delia got the feeling he wanted to get Oak away from the living room for some reason.

"Oh yes, I need to feed them, I'm running late this morning," Oak recalled.

Delia wasn't sure what this was about, but she was quick to play along with Giovanni, "we'll help, let's go let them all out of their pokeballs outside."

xoxox xox xoxox

It was a beautiful day and though it was a little later than usual, the pokemon were happy to be fed and allowed to run and play. Delia and Giovanni had let their pokemon out as well and Meowth finally let go of Giovanni's leg in favor of food and a game of tag.

Though the task of helping with the pokemon's meal felt annoying to Giovanni, he knew better than to mess up the opportunity to make Professor Oak relax in his presence. He had many questions he wanted to ask, but knew not to ask directly right away, at least not until the general atmosphere was more relaxed. 

After the chores were done, the three humans sat outside talking about pokemon and exchanging stories, carefully selected stories in the case of Delia and Giovanni.

"You must study a lot of rare pokemon here," Giovanni finally brought up the topic that really interested him when he thought the atmosphere was right.

"Sometimes," Oak admitted, having all but forgotten about Giovanni's connection to the mafia, right now he was a gym leader, a pokemon trainer, Delia's boyfriend and a curious mind to share information with. "I think there are things to learn about every pokemon even if they're not considered rare. Their behavior is fascinating."

Sensing Professor Oak was getting off topic, Giovanni tried to discretely guide the conversation down the path he wanted, while at the same time keeping the mood light. "You mean like Meowth being such a baby at times?" Perhaps he could get Oak to comment on a specific pokemon that caught his attention, instead of referring to general studies. 

Professor Oak laughed, "I commend your patience with him, letting him hang on to you for so long until he felt ready to let go."

"I don't think I've ever met a pokemon as clingy as that one," Giovanni admitted.

Sensing Giovanni's strategy to get Oak to casually mention the legendary by linking it to the conversation as another peculiar pokemon, Delia contributed, "Professor Oak gets the energetic playful ones more often than the clingy ones. Remember Nidorino?"

"Ah yes, I once took care of a Nidorino for a traveling trainer. That Nidorino would hardly sleep and hardly let me sleep, always wanting to stay out of his pokeball and run around playing. My students would help me try to tire him out playing and battling, but that Nidorino had a nearly infinite supply of energy. It was a strong one, very strong, but still one of the most playful pokemon I've ever seen." The story reminded Oak of other strong and playful pokemon, which was what Delia wanted to do. Caught up in the moment, the researcher voiced, "did you know it is said that there are some legendaries with a very playful nature as well, despite their vast power?"

"Like Mew?" Giovanni innocently inquired, with Delia having made Oak lower his guard and bring up the topic himself, Giovanni knew it would be alright to be a little more direct now, but he would still take care not to sound too eager. "Even if Mew is extinct I've always been interested in learning about it." He made it clear he did not believe Mew could be found, thus hiding his true dream of someday acquiring it by any means necessary, though the means were unclear at the time, if it was even possible at all.

Professor Oak seemed to recall a fond memory, but he focused on the current topic of Mew, the legendary he studied later, after his interest for those rare pokemon was sparked by Celebi many years ago. "It's true that Mew is officially thought to be extinct, but I had always hoped to meet one. I never did, but I believed Mew is out there. Since then I've instead dedicated myself to the general study of pokemon, but all that research about the legendaries wasn't in vain, all pokemon are connected somehow, by studying one, it is possible to learn about the others."

This was it, the moment of truth, "that sounds very interesting, do you think I could read your research on Mew some time?" Giovanni made sure to sound curious, but not too insistent, carrying out his act perfectly.

"Of course," even in retrospect, Professor Oak would see it as harmless; if Mew was out there he doubted such a powerful pokemon could be caught. Either way, he was glad someone was interested in his older research, which held a special value for him, even if his theories about the little known legendaries were not as widely recognized as his more famous studies about pokemon that trainers often caught. 

The topic made Professor Oak go on a lecture, adding in a few seemingly random stories of his youth about various events that had inspired him. Though some of the things he said were not directly related to Mew, Giovanni paid attention, making sure to remember details he thought might be important and complementary to the research he was yet to read.

After the long conversation, which casually shifted back to a non-legendary topic near the end, but was still on the subject of pokemon, Giovanni obtained a full copy of Professor Oak's research concerning Mew. "I had tried to submit it for official review," Oak recounted as he gave Giovanni a small but spacious data disk, "but they weren't interested since a lot of this is based on theories rather than concrete evidence, though I do link the theories to reality, it just seems that the link was too long or fragile for them." 

Professor Oak also gave Giovanni a folder full of notes and sketches, it was draft-like not as organized as a final product would be, but Giovanni accepted it, treating it as valuable information just as precious as the polished version tweaked to meet the standards of official scientific research. Surely the two data sources would compliment each other becoming much more informative than either of them could be by itself.

Soon after that, the visit ended, and Delia and Giovanni were on their way, with Giovanni finishing his act, much like his previous visit to Oak's research lab, which assured Oak that despite it all, maybe Team Rocket wasn't so bad after all, though he still didn't fully approve of them.

xoxox xox xoxox

After Delia and Giovanni were gone, Professor Oak sat down on his new soft couch, sinking into it and observing that, though it was certainly softer than the old one, he didn't remember it being this soft. Charizard made his appearance, looking very sleepy with smoky yawns. "have you been napping this whole time?" Albeit old, Charizard was usually an early riser and did not often take naps during the day. "I put your food out in the same place as always, I had guests this morning; I had assumed you already ate. Go on now; maybe you'll wake up completely after you eat."

Charizard growled uncertain, as if wanting to communicate something. The pokemon looked around the living room, nothing was out of place and it perplexed him. Furthermore, although his trainer did mention the presence of others this morning, he was perfectly calm about it. With one last smoke releasing yawn, Charizard went out to eat in the fresh air as he usually did on sunny days; maybe that would help him fully awaken and push the vivid dream out of his head. 

"Wait a second," Oak got up from the strangely squishy couch and examined his Charizard's left wing, it was scratched. He looked into the pokemon's blue eyes, Charizard didn't seem too aware of the scratches, as if the leftover sleep was too heavy. It was unnatural, almost as if he was given a sleeping pill or something, yet it didn't make any sense, who would do that? 

It was true that Pallet Town had received more visitors than usual today, but Professor Oak had no reason to suspect anyone was in his house, nothing was missing. Maybe Charizard had scratched his wing by accident somehow and perhaps the remnant sleep in his eyes was a sign of old age. "Go on, your food is waiting," Oak sent the confused pokemon on his way again.

The researcher sat on the soft couch again, sinking into it once more. He had an odd feeling, but he couldn't quite place it. Delia had been acting strange at first, but he couldn't figure out why. Giovanni had apparently left to go for a walk by himself, which was odd, but it could just be city boy curiosity or an attempt to make Meowth get tired of clinging to him while he walked. Maybe Delia had told him about Mrs. Alderaan and the way she was, hinting that she might want to visit and Giovanni attempted to escape by going for a walk, in which case Oak couldn't blame him, but it was still unusual.

The mysterious white limousine was the most out of place element of the day, but Professor Oak could think of no connection between it and the inexplicable happenings. He went over the facts again, Delia was hiding something, Giovanni went for a walk alone with his pokemon, Charizard's wing was scratched and he was unusually sleepy. Then there was the person on the motorcycle who zoomed by so fast. Perhaps that unidentified visitor would be the prime suspect if anything was missing, but nothing was.

Professor Oak shook his head, finally giving up on over-thinking things; he was only going in circles. He was about to get up from the squishy couch to continue his day normally, when the aforementioned couch became a group of pink blobs. He watched in amazement as several items in the living room, including a vase and a lamp, became pink blobs as well. 

"Ditto?" Professor Oak finally found his voice after staring in surprise for a full minute. He got up from the floor and picked up one of the pink blobs, examining it curiously, "what in the world? Is this a joke?" Were they a bunch of unusually mischievous Ditto? If so, he would love to study them and try to figure out the cause for their strange behavior. 

Did someone make the Ditto pretend to be his furniture? Was Delia in on this, was it Giovanni's doing? Professor Oak certainly didn't picture Giovanni as a prankster; his expression seemed to be perpetually serious even when he appeared to be relaxed. 

Again Professor Oak told himself it was best not to over-analyze the origin of the Ditto or the fate of his missing soft couch and various items, though at least the old Onix-hard couch was still there. He decided to be thankful that he had some Ditto to research, he had been hoping to find some anyway.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Back to HQ?" Delia inquired as the black car advanced through the rural roads on its way out of Pallet Town. The scene brought memories of their visit to Professor Oak long ago and the subsequent race through Viridian City after receiving an emergency call. She realized she had asked that very same question that time, albeit this time the sound of the radio was all that was heard and there was no cell phone ringing urgently.

"Hmm," another difference between that time in the past and today was that this time Delia was driving. After giving Professor Oak their thanks and goodbyes, then heading back to the car, she had offered to drive since she knew Giovanni wanted to start going through the documents and sketches in the folder from Professor Oak right away. Giovanni had no inconveniences in handing her the silver keys with the red R ruby encrusted keychain. He now sat in the passenger seat occasionally petting Meowth who was on his lap, engrossed in reading Professor Oak's research notes and examining the sketches in the folder.

Delia sighed, feeling disappointed to be ignored, even if she had wished so strongly for Giovanni to be interested in the research. "Alright; let's go home."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 23: Give me Compassion

Giovanni seemed to finally wake up from his focused trance when he finished reading and re-reading Professor Oak's notes about Mew, with his interest growing immensely. By reading between the lines he could theorize that Professor Oak was hinting at having seen a legendary, though he never once actually wrote about seeing Mew, Giovanni could interpret it as nothing else.

He found that the car was approaching the Viridian Gym; good, he could have the scientists from the local lab look at the data and determine how good it truly was from a scientific stand point, beyond how good he believed it was and wanted it to be. If it all went well, then he could start a major investigation project and perhaps involve New Island after all. 

The notes mentioned theories about Mew's genetic structure and brought up similarities found in the genetic structure of other pokemon, using that information to reconstruct Mew as a missing link. Unless some actual DNA was ever found, it was all a matter of theories; however, they were very interesting theories, too solid and detailed to be myths.

On a more optimistic perspective, perhaps some Mew DNA did exist somewhere, or an actual Mew. It may be a bit of a stretch, but Giovanni was one to dream big and though he managed to keep his feet on the ground for the most part, he certainly did have vast ambitions.

The car came to a stop in the Viridian Gym's driveway and Giovanni and Delia made their way inside the gym and to the elevator that led to the underground laboratory. The local lab was no where near as big as the one on New Island, but it was convenient to have it so close. "Your keys," Delia returned the silvery keys on the ruby R keychain, her tone sharp and her gaze on the elevator wall.

She was upset and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. She must be feeling ignored with him paying so much attention to the research once he got his hands on it and returning to the gym instead of going on the date Delia wanted. She had helped him a lot today in obtaining Oak's research. 

Despite Giovanni's ability to talk Oak into falling into a casual conversation and relaxing, he knew that the professor would have been on his guard if Delia wasn't there and she had sped up the process greatly. If she had not been there, Professor Oak would have asked about her and find it odd she didn't visit, which would affect his willingness to easily share information. 

Having Delia visit Oak alone might make him wonder about just on whose hands the research would end up. Other than rumors, Oak had no recent information about Giovanni, despite knowing enough to understand he was involved in a lot of illegal activities, but he new little in the personal level. If Giovanni had not been there to put up a nice act and reassure the researcher that Team Rocket really wasn't so bad, he wouldn't have said all the things he spoke of. 

Though she still didn't seem to be fully used to Team Rocket, despite having been with him for so long, Giovanni knew Delia was trying and she had been helpful and loyal, showing her true potential more every day. She just had to continue opening up to the possibilities and then one day, she would be ready to closely help him manage the ever growing organization.

She leaned on his shoulder, almost unconsciously, as if trying to tell herself that this was enough. He kissed her unexpectedly, but she pulled back, though she had a smile on her face at the sudden action, "later Charmander, let's not get caught again."

The elevator doors opened and they were in the lab, while Giovanni handed the data to the scientists and discussed it, Delia found herself remembering a similar scene in that very elevator back when the new underground level was still being prepared. Giovanni had kissed her then too, except she didn't pull back and they did not part on time before the doors opened, being seen like that by several Team Rocket members. 

Delia blushed bright red and later privately scolded Giovanni for being such a Charmander, though he assured her the team's assumptions most likely went well beyond the images they witnessed. This Delia knew to be true, having been regarded as Giovanni's lover long before she was. 

The memories made Delia wonder if someday, with the proper amount of convincing and temptation, she would even come to accept the true Team Rocket and forget her ideal image of it as a righteous group of vigilantes. She pushed the thoughts away, albeit her line had been blurred and moved over time, she still had to draw the line somewhere, and while she could tolerate some level of troublemaking, there were some things she could not accept.

Delia's thoughts led her back to her original mission to stop Aayla and Binks from making a terrible mistake. She silently reproached Giovanni with her eyes for being such a master of distractions and mentally kicked herself for allowing herself to be distracted. That was it, she would force herself to focus, once Giovanni was done talking to his local scientists, as she was certain that he was too concentrated in the conversation to even notice any interruptions, she would claim the attention he owed her and demand to go to New Island. She would personally make sure everything was alright and he would be there to back her up, like it or not.

Delia watched impatiently as the scientist inserted the disk into a computer, both he and Giovanni reading, with the scientist occasionally muttering "hmm, yes, that makes sense," with a tone of fascination. 

Determined to at least do something, Delia decided to call New Island again, finding a quiet corner in the lab to do so. Unfortunately, the line was dead, though it should come as no surprise; Aayla had to destroy the phone eventually after subjecting it to such abuse. 

Delia frustratingly clicked her little black cell phone shut, glaring at the red R on top of it. Team Rocket had its own communications network now, but that was no good if there was nothing to receive the signal. She would have to find another number to call, thus she set out to find the information she needed.

xoxox xox xoxox

After speaking to the secretary, Delia wasted no time before she called New Island. "Hello?" Binks sounded exhausted and alarmed when he answered the phone.

"It's Delia, how is Aayla?" Delia cut to the chase, her tone warning Binks he better not lie.

"Fine, fine," Binks nervously replied, "She's resting, recovering, sleeping, deeply, soundly, yes," he rambled, "I accidentally made her go to sleep... I... um... I..."

"Put her in a coma!?" Delia loudly exclaimed, making several heads turn in her direction as she made her way down the halls.

"Unconscious doesn't always mean coma, but she's well, she's been sleeping for a while and... I'm sorry!" Binks broke out in hysterics. "She told me to, I wanted to give her what she wanted; I wanted to be useful to her!"

"You idiot!" Delia scolded; she clenched her fists, not noticing the curious and frightened looks around her. They assumed she was ordering for someone to be beaten to a coma and yelling at the unfortunate person that got on her bad side. "I'm coming, prepare yourself." When Delia glanced at her surroundings, her fiery glare furious, everyone who had paused to listen to the conversation quickly went away, but she didn't pay too much attention to them as she hurried down to the lab.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia wasn't sure about what she missed being spoken between Giovanni and the leader of the local science team, but upon her return, she heard them mention research and New Island. She didn't hear the part about taking DNA apart and putting it back together to try to reconstruct Professor Oak's theories in living pokemon.

Giovanni approached her after telling the scientist to carry on with the plan, though she didn't really catch what the plan was. Before he could speak, she demanded, "I want to go to New Island."

Giovanni found the request unexpected at first, thinking Delia was upset because she wanted to go on a date and never got it, then he remembered her original request concerning Binks and Aayla, something that he had tried to make her forget. "Alright, let's go," he needed to take care of business there anyway to start getting things ready for the new project. 

A small clue could lead to a big discovery, so even if that tiny clue was a puzzle in itself, it was worth it. New Island would study the structure of all known pokemon and work to establish Mew's structure based on their connection. They would also serve to determine Mew's habitat as specifically as possible and agents would be sent to investigate and gather samples for further study.

"Delia, why are you upset? Is it because we didn't have a date? We can go now," Giovanni knew very well she would refuse, but pretended to be unaware of the cause of her anger.

"Aayla is unconscious, she's in a coma," the elevator doors opened on the first floor, they exited and went outside the gym. 

"What happened?" Giovanni inquired calmly.

"Binks tried to experiment on her, she told him to and the fool did it," Delia practically growled in anger, perhaps Giovanni's calmness bothered her more than anything. "Aayla's life may be in danger and it's... it's..." Delia's words of uncertain blame were interrupted by the loud noise and strong wind of a landing helicopter, its shiny black surface reflecting the sun. 

Both Delia and Giovanni boarded the helicopter, with Meowth still perched on his shoulder. "To New Island," Giovanni instructed and the pilot took off again. 

Meowth stood with his hind legs on Giovanni's shoulder and his front paws on the glass window next to him, curiously looking out, his tail, wagging in front of Giovanni's nose. Giovanni tried to remove Meowth from his shoulder to get the little pokemon's tail out of the way, but Meowth complained, wanting to be able to reach the window and look out. Meowth finally settled down when Giovanni held him up to the window at a more comfortable angle.

Delia let out a deep breath and leaned back on her seat, closing her eyes for a moment. Why did Meowth have to be so cute when she was so angry at Giovanni? He was always surprisingly patient with the little pokemon. She hated how she couldn't stay angry at him anymore, since when had her determination become so weak? Since when did she start to center her world around him and look away from all else?

"You don't like flying?" Giovanni finally broke the silence that had formed.

"Flying is fine, you know that's not why I'm upset," Delia replied as sharply as she could manage. "I'm worried about Aayla. Binks sounded very stressed," she emphasized, as if wanting to contrast how she was also stressed and Giovanni didn't appear to be.

"Binks is overly dramatic, he gets frightened easily, I'm sure everything is perfectly fine," Giovanni's voice was calm, but with a tiny hint of concern for effect.

Delia wasn't sure if Giovanni was trying to comfort her, or disregarding the situation, or perhaps both, but she decided to have hope. None the less, a part of her was starting to think that hope was a traitor, because she had gone far in the opposite direction of where she should go by continuing to hope, yet that part was silenced by her desire to continue holding on to that hope regardless of what it would bring. The happy ending had to come, it simply had to, and if she gave up, she wouldn't see it.

"I'll reserve judgment until we get there," Delia didn't say anything else during the rest of the flight to New Island and neither did Giovanni.

xoxox xox xoxox

Time passed very slowly for Delia, normally for Giovanni and too fast for Meowth, who was enjoying the view out the window. New Island finally appeared in the horizon at noon, the helicopter landed smoothly and the passengers got out. They were greeted by a scientist with a white coat, thick glasses and graying hair, who spoke excitedly about having received the communication from his colleague at Viridian City.

Delia decided to ignore them; they seemed to be able to ignore her rather easily. Giovanni and the scientist turned right inside the lab and Delia decided to disappear in the opposite direction. She approached a random researcher and inquired about Binks and Aayla, being directed to the upper floor.

xoxox xox xoxox

When the door suddenly opened, Binks jumped startled, his fear increasing when he saw who was at the door and how angry she looked. However, the panic seemed to fade away in seconds, being replaced by a solemn look. "I'm sorry," he appeared to be willing to accept any punishment that came his way, even his Rattata stood sadly beside him as if drained of hope.

Aayla was unconscious in a bed in that white room, the walls, the ceiling, the floor, the sheets; it was all an endless brilliant white, unlike the dark grays and metallic silver shades that dominated the other floors. Delia approached, gently placing her hand on Aayla's cold forehead. She retreated immediately and stared at the machine next to the bed, which beeped at a steady rhythm, measuring Aayla's heartbeats. "She's so cold," but she was alive.

"I'm a foolish man," Binks lamented; "I wanted to be strong, to be admired, to make a discovery. Most of all I wanted to give Aayla what she wanted. The ultimate power was her dream originally, she confessed it to me. She put those ideas into Venom's head back when they were a couple; she told me all about it. Then one day he abandoned her." Binks retrieved a small pink book from the pocket of his white lab coat. "This was Amethyst's diary; Aayla found it that time when Team Rocket took the Viridian Gym. Venom abandoned her for Amethyst and her riches, then left her to be captured by the police to soothe Amethyst's jealousy. Confirming this from her rival's point of view made Aayla thirstier for power and vengeance. I wanted to make her dream come true; I wanted to make her happy. I didn't care if she always thought I was a useless weakling, I just wanted to please her, to grant her wish... I love her."

"Rattata..." the small pokemon stood at Binks' feet, looking up at her trainer, the salty water of his tears falling on her sad little face.

"Sometimes dreams can turn into nightmares," Delia had arrived furious at Giovanni and Binks, but in the end each person was the master of their own destiny and perhaps Aayla would have pursued her dream even without Giovanni's resources and Binks' help. 

Delia found that she couldn't be angry at Binks for something he did out of love, but who was to blame then? She couldn't blame Giovanni for accepting he couldn't control their lives and letting them be. Maybe it would have been worse if they attempted this in a place lacking his vast resources, a place where there were no contingency measures for the failure of the process. Perhaps it was because Giovanni lent them his resources that Aayla was still alive.

Whose fault was it then? Aayla's for having such a power hungry goal, for wanting the power of pokemon to herself? Delia couldn't possibly blame a woman who was fighting for her life unconscious in a bed. She hoped that at least her dreams were pleasant. 

"This isn't anyone's fault," Delia cried, she didn't want to toss the blame, because she knew that if she did, she would throw it at herself. She would blame herself for losing contact with Aayla and the others, for not acting fast enough, for not being insistent and doing something instead choosing to be patient. She didn't want a culprit; she wanted a miracle.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 24: Give me Confidence

Delia dried her eyes and attempted to compose herself in the face of tragedy. She felt helpless and lost, but she still hoped and told herself that things would miraculously improve as they had before. "Binks, you won't make the same mistake again, right?"

The small white room was filled with a heavy atmosphere. "Of course not, if I could do it over I would take any beating Aayla gives me instead of following her dangerous orders."

"Take care of her and when she wakes up stay by her side to make sure she's alright, call me immediately. I'm afraid there's not much I can do here, I don't have the kind of scientific knowledge and experience this situation needs, but somehow, I'll try to be of help to everyone," Delia wasn't sure how she would accomplish that. In the past when she felt lost Giovanni had been there, but in truth he didn't know the way either, not the right way.

"I will," Binks promised solemnly.

Delia looked at Aayla's peaceful face; she showed no signs of pain what so ever. She placed her warm hand on the other woman's freezing one, "be strong Aayla, you're a truly amazing person and I know you can make it through this," after those words, Delia left the room.

As Delia walked down the hall, her expression was neutral; she didn't want to darken the atmosphere all over the lab to how it was in that room. Binks would take care of Aayla and she would wake up, everything would be alright.

"Delia, what are you doing over here?" She found Giovanni walking up the hall in the opposite direction.

"I went to see Aayla and Binks, she's sleeping and he's taking care of her," she made an inhuman effort to keep her voice even.

"New Island will be dedicated to researching Mew," Giovanni informed, "you wanted that," he reminded her, trying to lighten her mood.

Delia shook her head, "it's not because I wanted it that it's happening, but I am glad about the laboratory's new purpose." She didn't know of the specifics and deemed them harmless by lack of opposing evidence. Archeology, rocks, dirt, theories, maybe even fossils, but no live experimentation, she at least found comfort in those thoughts, not knowing how wrong she was. "Is your business here done?"

"I was going to talk to Binks," about the new project, to access how well he could participate in it, if he could handle it and to address a few curiosities about his last project, but Giovanni made sure not to hint at his true purpose, instead trying to look concerned.

Delia nodded, "go on, I'll wait here," if she saw the unconscious Aayla, the distraught Binks and the sad Rattata once more, Delia was sure she would cry again and this time she wouldn't be able to stop.

Delia wasn't sure how much time passed, she spent it all staring at her shoes with her back against the cool gray wall out in the hall. Giovanni returned and she walked beside him in silence, only half aware of his presence. They went to the helicopter again and took off, this time Giovanni's requested destination was Cinnabar Island.

xoxox xox xoxox

The buildings near by as the helicopter landed looked unfamiliar to Delia, she had not been in Cinnabar Island before, but she had a good guess about why they were there, or so she thought. There was a construction in progress as Leah had mentioned before, Giovanni probably wanted to take some time to personally visit it.

Delia frowned, telling herself not to complain, she had wanted to be included in his business. Aayla would be fine, Binks would take care of her; life had to continue for their sake. When Aayla returned, she would do so to a Team Rocket that was at least a little better than before, Delia would not let go of her dream, one day Team Rocket would be a force of good.

She still felt conflicted and lost, she wasn't sure what was a fact and what was an excuse anymore. It was not until they arrived at their room that Delia realized it was indeed a hotel room and not a meeting room filled with the people supervising the Cinnabar Island project. "What are we doing here?"

"Taking a break from everything," Giovanni crossed the room opening a door that led to a spacious interior garden, and let his pokemon out. "We can relax here and our pokemon can rest as well," he knew she cared deeply about pokemon and would be glad they were somehow included in their mini vacation.

Delia let out her pokemon, her expression softening only slightly at the sight of the beautiful scenery. The garden was covered in soft green grass with tall bushes lining the walls so that was all that was seen surrounding it. There was a little stone path that rounded two small ponds, one of them steamy and the other cool. Flowers were all around, varying in shades of red, yellow, orange, pink and white. Soft sunlight shone over the scene, highlighting the pokemon's expressions as they paused to watch her curiously. 

"What is it? Go play," Delia took care of them for Giovanni often, so his pokemon were just as familiar with her as her own.

"They're worried about you; it seems you absorb all the stress of the world into you. I told you before you can't carry the weight of the world all by yourself. Try to relax for the pokemon's sake; they have a strong connection to us, especially to you," Giovanni tried to make Delia forget about the recent events and focused on the present, trying to make her as calm and optimistic as he was at the time.

"A strong connection..." Delia mused, "that's what I've been trying to tell you."

"You were right," Giovanni credited, if only to get his point across that she needed to relax.

Delia's expression softened a little bit more, "you only say I'm right when it's convenient."

"You were still right," Giovanni gave her Meowth, who had remained perched on his shoulder thus far.

"Meowth?" The little pokemon looked at Delia with curiosity and concern.

"Mama is alright," Delia smiled at Meowth. "I was just worried about aunty Aayla, she's a little sick but it's nothing serious, she's going to be okay, uncle Binks is with her." She petted the small pokemon and set him down, "go play with your siblings."

There was a knock on the door with the announcement of, "room service!"

"That is the pokemon food," it was well into the afternoon by then, "we can leave them here, they'll be fine," Giovanni hinted that they would be going elsewhere.

Delia nodded and tried to make herself relax. Maybe it wasn't that he didn't care about Aayla's situation, but rather he knew he had to be a reliable figure of calm and composure. She would try to be that way too, so that she could muster the strength to share with others and give them hope. 

xoxox xox xoxox

"Don't lean out so far," Giovanni urged as he held Delia back.

"You have me, don't you?" Delia didn't listen and continued leaning into the volcano, fascinated by the glowing lava below. The lava was calm and smooth, its vapors being drained by vents connected to pipes on the bottom of the balcony around the volcano's opening.

It was true that Giovanni did have his arms wrapped securely around Delia's waist, but he still found it reckless that she would lean in over the railing like some, "curious country girl."

"Hey, I've been living in the city long enough!" Delia argued sounding amused rather than offended and finally stood upright. "This place is beautiful; I wonder why we're the only ones here?"

"Because I don't want interruptions," he had that look of confidence and victory, the look he always had when he gave her an expensive gift. 

"Did you rent out this place for the entire day?" Delia still felt uneasy about the expensive gifts and the excesses, but they had been working hard and they hardly had time to relax, plus she really needed a get away. For once, she wouldn't tell him it was too much, instead allowing him to bask in the pride of being able to give her something fancy, she was especially thankful that this time the gift included spending time with her.

xoxox xox xoxox

It was nice, eating on a volcano, it was very warm of course, but neither seemed to mind, after having some island specialties; Delia had an experiment she wanted to try. The waiter, who Delia thought must be very tired of going up and down the volcano, brought the requested supplies with a smile, probably thinking the tip he knew he would be getting was well worth the exercise.

With a childish spark in her eyes, Delia inserted the marshmallows into the stick, tied it to a long string and lowered it close to the lava below, but just far enough so it wouldn't catch on fire. 

She brought the roasted marshmallows up again, blowing at the one on the end before taking a bite into it, her expression joyful as she devoured the rest of the large fluffy treat. These marshmallows were about twice the size of regular ones, but she had no complaints about it. "Delicious!" She offered Giovanni the stick with the other marshmallow, "you have to try this!"

"Volcanic marshmallows..." he had not considered the idea, it was creative, plus she was right, it did taste great, more importantly, she was finally relaxing which meant that he could leave the strategizing behind for now and relax for real.

Delia remembered the marshmallows they had at the beach long ago; she hoped they could do that again as she tried to stay focus on a positive line of thinking. That time she had felt invincible, a vigilante who could take on the world. Giovanni had reassured her then. There was also another time when he reassured her that stood out in her mind.

Team Rocket had just started its speedy growth, she took care of the pokemon and he tried to keep everything running smoothly, their paths crossed in the halls in what Delia would refer to as Charmander mini-moments, but they weren't working side by side, even if they were together in the evening until the next morning when they again parted ways.

They had gone up to the roof of the Viridian Gym one night with the lights off and he had told her to look up. It felt like being in outer space. She could see nothing but darkness around her due to the abundant trees, but when she looked up she felt as if she really was surrounded by stars, with no other light to dim their shine. 

She had told him then about how she wanted to be more involved with Team Rocket, more helpful. "You're already helpful," he replied, "you take good care of the pokemon, they're strong because of you, I trust you." That had been all the assurance she needed that time.

She felt appreciated, trusted and capable; she could be left on her own because she knew what she was doing. She did later hear about certain angles she didn't like in the progress of the various negotiations surrounding the new Team Rocket, but she tried to look at the situation from a different angle where Team Rocket was somehow justified.

The evening was arriving now, the glow of the lava below becoming the closest light, with the lights of the hotel at the volcano's base. They had been kissing when the sound of Delia's cell phone was heard, she looked at it immediately, with Giovanni giving her a slightly annoyed expression, "don't give me that look Charmander, this is important," the call was from Binks, Delia immediately answered and asked, "how is she?"

"Aayla is awake, she's awake!" Binks cheered, "she's going to be alright, she gave me a black eye!" No one had ever sounded so happy about getting a black eye before.

"That's wonderful!" Delia cheered, her radiant joy shining through without having to be forced, "I mean about Aayla waking up, not about your black eye; can I talk to her?"

"I'm afraid she can't really talk to anyone right now, but I have you on speaker, oh sorry, I forgot to tell you that!" Binks apologized, though he still sounded joyous, albeit exhausted.

"Never mind, it's okay, but why can't she talk? Did she lose her voice?" Delia inquired, her previous worry returning slightly, though the relief that Aayla was awake was still greater.

"Oh no, she just had a bit of a throat infection and had to have her tonsils removed. Don't worry, her condition is stable, her voice will return in a few days," Binks assured. "Aayla, do you want to try saying something to Delia?"

A raspy growl was heard and Delia's smile grew at the further confirmation of Aayla's consciousness, it might have been a growl, but it was Aayla's voice. "Don't try to talk now, it's okay, I know you're there. Just focus on recovering and enjoy having lots of ice-cream!" She paused, looking at Giovanni who listened to one side of the conversation with curiosity, she knew he must have already realized what this was about, "I'm putting you on speaker now, Giovanni is here."

"Boss?" Binks continued, "I sent you an email with the detailed medical report as requested and testing is being prepared, I'll send the data as soon as we have it."

"Good, continue as planned," upon hearing this, Delia realized Giovanni must have told Binks to send that data back at the lab. 

She smiled, assuming he really was more concerned about Aayla's safety than she had thought, even if he was discrete in showing it. She felt bad for ever doubting him, a good leader would take care of his team while remaining collected and Giovanni was a great leader as far as Delia knew. She wasn't sure what the tests were about, but she assumed they were related to Aayla's health.

"Yes!" Binks showed signs of excitement in his voice, besides his joy and relief. "I'll work on that right away; I guess that's all the news I have for now, so um... goodbye."

"Bye!" Delia gave her cheerful goodbye as the distant sound of music began, catching their attention, though it was far. "A party?" Delia wondered as she clicked her cell phone shut, it was relatively loud, considering the distance, she didn't think it was a small private party.

"It's the flame festival, do you want to go?" Giovanni inquired, he looked more truly relaxed than he had in a while, he was calm and strong all the time, but now he was more peaceful, as if the constant guard he always had disappeared in light of everything progressing well and being able to take some time off.

"Yes!" Delia was finally feeling truly good; focusing on the present as she knew Giovanni wanted her to, with no worries in the back of her mind anymore. She had looked forward to spending time with him, she had obtained it and she would enjoy it.

To be Continued


	6. Part 6

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 25: Give me Happiness

The streets of Cinnabar Island were filled with both tourists and locals, enjoying the flame festival, a celebration that honored fire pokemon, thought to be the source of energy for the island's volcanoes. 

"Giovanni," Delia spoke quietly, "I'm sorry for being so grumpy before." It was simply the way she was, feeling guilty whenever she wasn't miss sunshine, even if she had a good reason.

"It's alright, let's enjoy the festival," to Giovanni, in his current optimistic mood it looked like Delia was evolving after all, beginning to handle things a little better, to realize what she had to do for Team Rocket and for his goals, which maybe she was finally starting to make her own. She was slowly reaching towards the potential he saw in her. She was unique indeed, she could charm just about any pokemon into loyally following her, she was skilled in training them and very loyal, the perfect queen.

The main street was lined with stalls selling various things, food, souvenirs and all kinds of items. Music was heard from all around and performers entertained the crowd up on a stage at the end of the main street. Two Flareon let out a line of fire up, as they stood on their hind legs, their front paws joined, the fire curved above them in the shape of a heart. The crowd continued to grow in front of the stage as two men dressed as Magmar joined the pair of Flareon. Their faces covered by masks, identities unknown, they began their act, juggling wooden torch sticks. 

The costumes were not full costumes as a sports mascot would wear. Instead they looked as if they came from an ancient tribe modeled after the pokemon. They wore red capes attached to their masks that had a pair of yellow tipped horns on top. The end of their capes was cut in zigzags lined with yellow. They wore red pants to match their capes, with the same yellow zigzag finish on the bottom. Their toned tanned chests were exposed, with a long pair of thin golden ribbons tied to their upper arms, flowing in the breeze as they juggled.

The pair of Flareon threw flames up, the trainers catching them on the torches. They tossed the lit torches to each other, increasing the speed of their team juggling act as the wooden sticks continued to burn out. With the torches nearly burnt out, all eight were tossed up simultaneously. The two Flareon shot fireballs at them, causing the material to burn out completely and the flames to fade away in mid air, like miniature fireworks, before they hit the stage. The crowd clapped and cheered enjoying the show. 

A woman dressed as a Vulpix walked among the crowd, her costume making her stand out. She wore a red Vulpix mask with curly red hair on top and triangular ears. Her long light brown hair flowed down her back from under the mask. Her costume consisted of a red strapless one-piece swimsuit, with six red tails, paw shaped gloves and matching boots.

"Now the lovely Vulpix will choose a volunteer to participate in our next act!" One of the men on stage announced.

The crowd was filled with a chorus of "Pick me!" "Over here!" "Vulpix!" "Choose me!" "I want to go on stage!" and similar calls. 

The Vulpix woman seemed to know exactly who she was searching for, making her way through the crowd until she reached Delia, "Vulpix!" The woman in the costume spoke as a pokemon would, her true identity a mystery behind her mask.

"Me?" Delia was surprised to have been chosen, but it did sound fun to join the show, "okay," she smiled glancing back at Giovanni, who was enjoying the show as well.

With the volunteer chosen, the crowd opened a path for the Vulpix woman and Delia to get up on the stage. Delia was left to continue the act with the two Magmar while Vulpix disappeared behind the stage. 

"Magmar!" One of the men, not the one who had spoken before, directed Delia to a box, large enough so she could stand inside it. "Magmar!" He tapped it asking Delia to do the same on each side to confirm it was solid. "Magmar," he directed her to go inside the box.

The set up reminded Delia of a classic magic trick involving a box being cut up by a Scyther, then the one inside, be it human or pokemon would emerge unharmed after the trick ended. She smiled and waved at the crowd until the Magmar man closed the box leaving her momentarily in darkness.

She heard the other Magmar man address the crowd, "the beautiful Volcano Princess shall now become one with the flames from which she came and reveal herself as our guardian!"

It was an old myth among the many that existed in Cinnabar Island. The man began to tell the legend, while the floor beneath Delia sunk under the stage.

"Long ago, there was a peaceful village at the foot of a large volcano in the center of this island," the talking Magmar man narrated. "Many years ago, that village, the village of our ancestors, was in danger of being destroyed. The volcano had grown upset after its lonely spirit became tired of sensing the fear people had for it. The volcano's spirit was sad and with that sadness came the wish to make it all go away, to make the village disappear, for everything to be consumed by lava... However, when the volcano roared, the villages did not abandon their home; instead they gathered around the volcano and prayed to appease its spirit. They offered their friendship and hoped for their home to be saved."

"Suddenly, the volcano erupted," the same man continued, "shooting a beam of fire straight up into the skies as lava flowed down its sides. The villagers did not run away, they instead began to sing in hopes of making peace with the volcano. Then, when the beam of fire cleared out, there was a woman covered in flames floating above the volcano, she commanded the lava to return from whence it came. The lava climbed up the volcano before it could reach the villagers and resided inside it peacefully. The woman, the spirit of the volcano, had wished to join the villagers and was sad because she knew they would fear her, but that fateful night she had become their friend and they no longer feared her."

"From that time on, when people approached the volcano they could hear her soothing voice and if they showed trust, she would appear to them floating above the volcano. The mysterious woman came to be known as the Volcano Princess. There was a man among the villagers who had fallen in love with her and would visit her every day, watching her flaming form dance above the lava, singing a beautiful song. The Volcano Princess was happy to spend time with him, but also sad because she could not join him. She was unable to leave the volcano, plus her flaming touch would surely burn him to ashes. Even so, their love was strong and true and they wished with all their hearts to be together."

"One evening, when the man return to the village after going to visit his love in the volcano, he was not alone, he walked hand in hand with a beautiful woman wrapped in a cape that resembled flames. Their love had been so strong that the Volcano Princess became human and was finally able to live in the village with her beloved. The couple was destined to reincarnate over and over throughout the years and find each other, falling in love again until eternity. It is said that the Volcano Princess lives hidden among us and that when flames consume her body, her true identity will be revealed. A fire pokemon should be able to find her and Vulpix believes she has. Let us reveal the Volcano Princess' true form!"

xoxox xox xoxox

Under the stage there was light again and while the legend was being told above, Delia found someone familiar, whom she was not expecting to find there. The Vulpix woman had removed her mask, "Leah? You're helping with the flame festival?"

"Yes!" Leah was radiant, far happier than Delia had ever seen her, "I found him, I really found him! Han was alive after all, he's up there, the Magmar telling the story of the Volcano Princess, that's him and the other one is Luke, I told him about Han and he came right away. Then I saw you in the crowd and had to choose you for the act so I could tell you right away, it's so good that you're here too."

"What a surprise, Han is really alive and you've been reunited!" Delia's happiness continued to increase and she was glad she didn't lose hope. Everything was finally fixing itself as if by a miracle. 

"There was a reason why we didn't find each other sooner," Leah confessed with a hint of guilt reflected in her voice and honey colored eyes, "Luke and I blame ourselves for this, though I told them the fault was all mine. Han said we shouldn't blame anyone and that only the future matters. We didn't have a lot of time to talk, instead we decided to celebrate first and catch up after the flame festival. Luke and Han used to do this act years ago so it was fitting for their reunion. The festival committee was surprised to see Han alive and immediately let him and Luke perform their act. Most of the people he used to know are not even aware of his return yet, only a few know so far; but that's okay, there will be time for that later."

"Han is right, this is a time to be happy, not to feel guilty," Delia encouraged, her curiosity to know more shining in her eyes. 

Leah read her expression and offered, "I'll tell you the story, but while I do, I need to help you get ready to go back on stage and be the Volcano Princess." Leah began to work on Delia's makeup. "After investigating around Cinnabar Island and not finding anything new, I took on an assignment for Team Rocket at Fuchsia City. I was asking around with a picture of Han until someone mentioned having seen a man resembling the picture at the port. I didn't get my hopes up too much, but went to investigate right away."

"There were several ships at port, cruises and cargo ships, as well as smaller boats. I asked around until I was directed to a small cargo ship and there he was, with the crew. I called out to him but he didn't answer, so I went over to him and asked him if he was really Han. He was surprised that someone would ask him that and said we needed to talk."

"That day in the past when the earthquake happened, the floor of the cave fell in, but the opening was too small for the boulders above to follow Han down and that was what saved him. However, many small rocks fell through; Han hit his head and was injured. When he woke up, he was trapped, in pain and confused, he had amnesia. He completely forgot who he was or where he was, it must have been terrifying. A group of Diglett and Dugtrio helped him get to the surface, but three days had already passed and Han had been assumed to be dead."

"I couldn't deal with his death so I returned to Fuchsia City and locked myself away. I heard that Luke wandered around town in denial and if anyone approached him, he became violent and resented that everyone had accepted Han's death so easily. Han told me he wandered around Cinnabar Island for an entire day hoping that someone who knew him would see him, approach him and clear things up. He noticed that people were avoiding him and keeping their distance so he decided to leave the island and got a job on a cargo ship, off to start a new life." 

"If I had stayed in Cinnabar Island I would have been able to tell the difference between them right away, everyone who saw Han assumed he was Luke and avoided him remembering what a terrible mood he was in. If they had just spoken to him they would have recognized him. Unfortunately, Luke didn't run into Han. Luke and Han were never exactly held to high esteem, they had no big family business or anything and they grew up as the mischievous troublemakers of the town. No one truly cared, they just did what they thought was proper for the sake of appearing polite and that hasn't changed. Han was there and no one knew, for such a long time he lived without a past. After I found him, I told him about our time together and about his brother. I contacted Luke and the three of us were reunited in time for the flame festival." 

"We had not even finished catching up when a few people saw Han and Luke together, realizing that the other must be Han. That's when we decided to help out at the festival. It doesn't matter if the town's people aren't really interested in what happened; the most important thing is that we're all together. Luke and Han practiced their old juggling act and were surprised at how well they did. It was amazing, as if they found their special connection as twins again. Even if Han didn't remember how the act went, Luke only had to explain it once and Han could keep up with him."

"We haven't told Han about Team Rocket yet; we wanted to tell him everything and started from the beginning, so we talked mostly about the past in Cinnabar Island. It's a very long story, but we'll get to the present soon, we'll fill him in on everything and even if he doesn't remember, he'll know every detail. Maybe he'll join too, then we can all be a part of Team Rocket, I know Luke likes adventure and Han liked adventure too," though Leah had doubted staying with Team Rocket in the past, if Han was there, she would be there too, then Han would have both her and his brother near.

Delia was amazed by the story, the fact that Luke and Han were identical twins played a key role in the way things turned out. It was almost as if Han had been regarded as a ghost, though he was very much alive. The physical resemblance between the two brothers was amazing, albeit the way they spoke was certainly a sharp contrast. Delia could picture Luke picking up his peculiar style of speech if only to be different and feel unique and original. "I'm so happy for you, Han and Luke. I'm sure it will be great when he joins!" 

The Volcano Princess costume was now complete, the cloak over Delia flowed down to the floor, but despite the layers it didn't feel hot since the fabric was so thin. It shimmered in beautiful shades of red, orange and gold, the translucent fabric flowing as if it were on fire; that was the illusion it created with multiple shades. The light reflected off the flowing fabric, making it appear to be a different color from each angle as if she was truly burning. Delia's face was highlighted in the same fiery colors, red lipstick, golden glitters and orange eye shadow. 

The final piece of the costume was a golden colored crown, with ruby rhinestones. Leah examined the costume, "looks like you're ready."

xoxox xox xoxox

"The box has been burned to ashes and the Volcano Princess has disappeared!" Han, who was on stage dressed as Magmar, announced. "The truth is that her spirit is still here, we must summon her with fire and offer her our friendship. Let's show her we want her to reappear, Volcano Princess!"

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia and Leah could hear people calling out to the Volcano Princess. "It's time, you're going to be surrounded by fire when you go up there, but don't worry; Han caught and trained those Flareon himself since they were Eevee, you'll be fine."

"Everything is going so well, nothing can scare me now, I'm ready!" Delia assured. Leah activated the mechanism to lower the platform, now the trick was not hidden by a box, but by a curtain of fire. Delia stood on the platform as it rose up to the stage. 

She was encircled in flames; they surrounded her, but did not touch her. She felt as if she truly was being reborn as the legendary Volcano Princess. The fire stopped, revealing Delia on the stage and the crowd cheered.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 26: Give me Dreams

Was it morning? No, it was still dark. Delia found it odd; she never woke up in the middle of the night. Her dream had been amusing though, but it was more a memory than a dream. Her good mood must have been reminding her of happy times even in her sleep. 

It was a long time ago, when Team Rocket had only recently taken over the Viridian Gym. Giovanni was looking over some documents. Delia quietly snuck up behind him, but he turned his head slightly, noticing her presence and she turned away.

Meowth was comfortable on top of the TV; the little pokemon had insisted to climb up there and would not be moved, meowing loudly in protest if anyone tried to get him down. Neither Giovanni nor Delia could understand the pokemon's sudden desire to nap on the TV, but they let him be, it seemed he wanted to try out every surface he saw for a nap, appliances included.

Giovanni focused on the documents once more, he was done reading, but wanted to see what Delia would do. She snuck up behind him again, like a feline stalking her pray, ready to pounce any second. Giovanni made sure not to look, curious to know what childish yet somewhat amusing thing Delia came up with. Surely she didn't mean to cover his eyes and have him guess who she was, that was too silly, even for a curious naive country girl.

Then he regretted his choice, she was on the attack, mercilessly messing up his hair, "Delia, stop that!" She did not, "stop it!"

Finally satisfied, Delia grinned at Giovanni, her smile growing into a fit of laughter. Meowth woke up, curiously looking at his mother, wondering what was so funny, while seeing that his father's hair looked different, but humans seemed to have a slightly different appearance every day anyway. Laughing uncontrollably, Delia sat down on the bed, finally letting herself fall back, her amusement still ringing out.

Giovanni reached for a mirror, the first mirror he spotted, Delia's pink hand mirror. This was Delia's room too and she kept everything neat for both of them. Even so, sometimes he wished she would hide her pink items as he did not like the color. 

None the less, the mirror served its purpose, revealing that his hair partly fell down in front of his face and flew out to the sides left and right. She made a fine mess and she dared to laugh. He stopped her amused rolling around, catching her wrists and holding her in place, lying on top of her. 

"No fair, I wasn't ready, you snuck up on me!" Delia pouted, after the last few giggles passed.

"Didn't you sneak up on me?" Giovanni reminded, leaning close.

"You knew I was there," she justified, still making a pouty face.

"How would you like it if I messed up your hair?" He was so close, she could feel him breathing.

"I'll just brush it again, no big deal, now let me go!" 

"Don't do that again," predictably, reaching for his hair was the first thing she did when he released her hands. "Really Delia, you're so childish sometimes," at least he found some amusement in her childish and naive ways sometimes and this was one of those times despite the messy state his hair was left in.

"Relax, I'm not going to mess up your perfect image in front of your minions, oh supreme ruler of the world," Delia was only being sarcastic, but Giovanni would have liked to make it come true, taking over the world was a good long term goal to have. "You looked stressed so I had to do something, I know it's because Team Rocket is growing so fast and is constantly being restructured, but you need to take a break sometimes and clear your head." She continued playing with his hair, "it looks shorter than it actually is, when it's-"

"Not a mess?" He supplied.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad."

"No one will take me seriously like this..."

"Fine then, fix it tomorrow, right now, you need a break, besides, no one will see you, and by the way, get off Charmander." She paused and waited, but he didn't move, "why are you grinning at me like that? What's so funny?"

"I know you're perfectly comfortable as you are," he continued to grin victoriously, he knew he was right.

xoxox xox xoxox

The images of the dream, of the memory, faded into the back of her mind as Delia cuddled close to the sleeping Giovanni and fell asleep again. She felt more energized than she had in a long time because things had taken such a great turn for the better.

Again her mind refused to remain inactive, replaying another memory in the shape of a vivid dream. It was from the time when Team Rocket faced the smaller gangs in the east of Kanto. There was one that had retreated to Lavender Town, into a strange abandoned tower rumored to be haunted. 

"Dude Giovanni, these guys like totally gave up and want to join us," Luke had met up with Delia and Giovanni at the foot of the tower, Leah following quietly. 

"Joining Team Rocket is not that simple, you'll have to prove yourselves," Giovanni addressed the small gang, there were only seven of them in total and they always acted together. They called themselves the Ghost Group, though ironically none of them actually had any ghost pokemon and they weren't quite sneaky enough to be compared to ghosts. 

Each gang member wore a badge, brooch or pendant shaped like a purple ball with a wavy tail that became thinner at the end and angry red eyes. It was their symbol, though not all gangs had symbols. The Tempest Gang claimed not to need such a thing, but perhaps they would have adopted a symbol if they had known that it would be the only thing left behind as their memory after Team Rocket took over everything, marking Tempest's past territory with their red R.

"I understand," the leader replied, "we'll be sure to fulfill your expectations." It was clear they weren't too thrilled about joining Team Rocket, but they knew that if they did not, their gang would be forced to be disbanded and their pokemon would be taken away. Eventually, like so many others, they would get used to being part of a larger organization and enjoy its benefits.

"You better," Giovanni warned them seriously, then addressed Luke, "give them the standard test and let me know how it goes."

"You got it boss dude, I'm like totally on it!" Luke cheered excitedly, "follow me new dudes and dudettes!" Luke and Leah left with the seven new applicants.

Giovanni and Delia looked at the tower; it was their last stop for the night. The location was rumored to have become the Phantom Patrol's hiding place, however, most of the Phantom Patrol had disbanded and only two members stubbornly refused to give in, having retreated to the tower in hopes of hiding from Team Rocket until they were ready to gather more allies and strike back. Everything pointed to those two still being there. Giovanni and Delia entered the tower in search of the pair that had slipped away.

The tower was dark and surprisingly cold, despite there being no logical explanation to the change in temperature. They were aided by flashlights to light their way, but it seemed that the darkness consumed most of the light, though the flashlights had been working just fine outside a few seconds ago.

"Giovanni, do you think this tower is really haunted?" Delia asked softly, careful not to raise her voice too much.

"That's just a rumor," Giovanni didn't believe in ghosts, other than ghost pokemon, but that was different.

"Aw, that's too bad," Delia sounded sincerely disappointed, "I thought it would be cool to see a spirit or something."

"You want it to be haunted? You really are full of surprises." The long ragged curtains were abruptly blown violently, as if reaching out to them. The sudden gust disappeared as quickly as it came and the flashlight's dim light pointed towards the window revealed that the dusty glass was closed. Upon inspection it was clear that the window had been closed for a long time, the surrounding area was covered with more dust then it could have if it was open a moment ago.

"Maybe this place really is haunted," Delia became more excited. 

"A normal person would worry about that," Giovanni reminded, he still didn't believe the tower was haunted, but he too was enjoying the excitement of uncertainty.

"You should talk, I can tell you want to see something supernatural as much as I do, if not more," Delia teased.

"Okay, I'll admit it," behind most legends there was some truth and seemingly supernatural events were sometimes in reality super powerful pokemon.

Eerie wails were heard, as if lamenting something terrible, as they made their way up the tower. Turning the corner of the spiraling stairs, a red light was seen as the wails became louder. Delia curiously approached, turning the round corner until a lava lamp came into view, "it's pretty; who would leave this laying around in a place like this?"

"Someone who would make a really bad horror movie director," Giovanni laughed more at horror movies then at comedies, though he still liked spy and gangster movies best, especially with a lot of action and explosions.

In the second to last floor, they were received by a black cloaked being with a seemingly bloody knife, suspiciously carrying the scent of tomatoes. "ohh.... wooo, boooo, hoooo!" 

"Is this yours?" Delia tossed the lava lamp at him.

The mysterious boy caught it with his free hand, stopping his poor acting. "Are you people insane? Why aren't you running for your lives?"

"From what?" Giovanni nonchalantly inquired.

"From me!" The boy in the cloak threw the lava lamp at Giovanni, who effortlessly dodged it, then went on the attack with the knife. However, Giovanni easily caught his wrist making him drop the knife in pain. "Ah, let go!"

Annoyed with the pathetic boy, Giovanni let him go and pushed him away, to see what he would do. He began to cry in pain, muttering something along the lines of "big sis will avenge me."

"That's quite enough, brother," a woman came from the shadows. "Let the nightmare begin! Ninetails, fill this tower with fire, flame thrower!" The majestic fire pokemon came out of its pokeball, throwing fire balls all around. 

In a matter of seconds, Giovanni and Delia were surrounded by the flames but didn't look worried just yet. "Cloyster!" The pokeball Delia threw did not open, "what?" Delia examined it in puzzlement, trying to pry the two halves apart. "It's stuck!" She handed it to Giovanni who tried to pull it open to no avail. Seeing as Cloyster wasn't coming out, Delia tried to call out Krabby instead, this time it worked, but Krabby was so exhausted he fainted immediately. "Krabby, what's wrong? I don't understand; he was fine before, return!"

Giovanni handed Delia back the sealed pokeball containing Cloyster, "try to open it to put the fire out, I'll take care of the battle," he sent out Golem. "Don't think you have the advantage, you have less of a chance to get out of here than we do if this fire continues."

"You cannot defeat me, Ninetails, fire blast!" The blast went straight for Golem, knocking him out in one hit.

"This is impossible!" Giovanni recalled Golem in disbelief. 

"It really is a nightmare," Delia couldn't believe it, how could so many things go wrong? It didn't make any sense, then something clicked, "the Phantom Patrol, unlike the Ghost Group actually has ghost pokemon, don't they?"

"Yes, but what are you getting at?" Giovanni wondered why she suddenly sounded so calm.

Delia remembered Haunter hypnotizing Leah in the past, "this really is a nightmare, an illusion, their pokemon put us in a trance, we just need to wake up. We're the vigilantes, the heroes and they're the bad gangs so we will win!" Her realization and strong belief caused Delia to wake up from the trance. Gastly and Gengar were floating in front of them, the boy's antics had only been a distraction while his sister's pokemon casted their hypnotic spells. 

Delia and Giovanni had been standing perfectly still, they could still speak, but all movements were nothing but a dream. The Phantom Patrol duo knew that if they got too close to try to take their pokeballs so soon, they would wake up. They had to be put into a deep sleep, but for that their minds had to fall victim to the nightmare.

Giovanni woke up as well, finding that there was no fire, or Ninetails, but there were the two ghost pokemon. He wondered how Delia saw through the illusions with such certainty. Was it because she truly believed so strongly that they were a force of good destined to win? He would have to ask her about it later, for the time being, he focused on finishing the battle. "You'll regret challenging Team Rocket!"

"So this is it," the woman, who was also in a black cloak spoke with her face shrouded in shadows, "I know we can't defeat you."

"Big sis, you're not giving up, are you?" The boy complained.

"It's pointless, I've seen them battle before and I've seen all those who resisted the rule of Team Rocket fall. However," she dropped two empty pokeballs on the floor and stomped hard on each one, smashing them to pieces under her black boot. "You will not take my pokemon, Gastly, Gengar, as my last command I order you to flee from this place, and after that I set you free!" The pair of ghost pokemon flew away and disappeared into the night.

The last two members of the Phantom Patrol were captured that night, taken prisoner by Team Rocket and abandoned unconscious with sleep powder, tied up in front of the police station. By the time they woke up, they were already surrounded by officers. That was how Team Rocket cleaned their territory of other gangs, one after another.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia woke again, though she found that this time it was morning. She had quite a night full of dreams, remembering good times. She couldn't believe that she had worried that those good times would end. It was a peaceful morning and though she knew that day she and Giovanni would return to Viridian City and get back to work, her holiday in Cinnabar Island was something Delia would forever treasure.

She got ready for a day that promised to be good, finding that the room's closet was well equipped despite the fact that she didn't have time to pack anything, as the Cinnabar Island holiday came as a surprise. The day started well, the weather was ideal, breakfast was delicious and Delia was happily enjoying her last few moments in Cinnabar Island, they would depart for Viridian City in an hour. 

Delia had been telling Giovanni about how much she enjoyed their holiday, cheerfully describing the feeling of excitement being surrounded by fire on the stage. They had been caught up in the celebrations the previous night and didn't really have time to talk. Then suddenly, the peace of the early day was interrupted by a loud explosion.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 27: Give me Protection

The loud noise of an explosion that shattered the peaceful Cinnabar Island morning was followed by the sound of falling rocks, several small ones being thrown hard enough to fall on the hotel's ceiling. "What was that?"

"I don't know, but it sounds like a panic out there," Giovanni quickly recalled his pokemon into their pokeballs and picked up Meowth. 

Delia called back her pokemon as well and followed Giovanni to investigate outside. People were running out in alarm, "you have to leave!" One of the hotel employees urged, "there are explosives up there, at this rate, the volcano will-"

Another loud explosion shook the land, more rocks avalanched down the volcano's side as sparks flew. If the explosions dug a hole on the volcano's side, lava would start spilling out, endangering the entire area.

"Giovanni, Delia! I'm like so glad I found you dudes, but I was like totally too late to stop the explosions, you know?" Luke rushed over, his expression frightened beyond what anyone who knew him would expect, even in that situation.

"What's going on?" Giovanni demanded to know, not bothering to question his presence there, maybe he took a mission involving the supervision of the construction project, no one person could keep up with every mission every member took.

"Some dude who like doesn't like Team Rocket like totally planted explosives in the volcano, you know? I like heard a rumor, but couldn't like get here on time, man! There's like no time, leave the island, but don't like take the chopper, it might be like sabotaged, you know?" Luke urged.

"This is too much of a direct challenge, I'm not going anywhere," Giovanni didn't expect anyone to so openly challenge Team Rocket, not now that they were so powerful and he was angry that someone dared.

"I'm staying too; we can't let whoever did this get away with putting so many people in danger!" Delia was filled with the same fire and determination she showed when facing the Tempest Gang in the past, her thirst for justice and her instinct to protect the innocent surfacing again.

Another explosion resounded and the volcano's wall gave in as more sparks flew, causing several of the buildings at the foot of the volcano to catch on fire. Lava started flowing down the volcano's side at a slow but steady pace. 

"Dude, like what do we do, man?" Luke appeared more nervous and out of place than ever. Giovanni took note of it, but attributed it to how unexpected the attack was; perhaps Luke had grown accustomed to things working out more easily for Team Rocket lately. Delia noticed Luke's reaction as well; he had been braver than this in the past, but she determined that he was not afraid for himself; he must have been worried about his recently found brother.

"We'll find the one who's challenging Team Rocket," Giovanni started to make his way to the coast, away from the lava, with Delia and Luke following at a hasty pace.

"How do we stop the lava?" Delia inquired, holding on to the hope that it would be stopped. There had to be a way, for those on the side of good, there always was.

"There's nothing that can be done about that, all we can do is set up an investigation to find out who's responsible, we can head for Viridian City after that, until we get a lead." Giovanni concluded, giving the volcano one last bitter glance.

Delia looked back as well, though she kept following Giovanni, "yes, there is something," she stopped, "there's always something that can be done. Think about it!" Delia tried to find the right words, the way to phrase the situation that would convince Giovanni to do something about it, a way to make him see it was necessary. "If we let this happen, the attacker will think that Team Rocket is powerless to stop him and he'll keep doing things like this. Wasn't there a construction on this island that's part of the new business Team Rocket has been expanding into? It will be destroyed over and over again, because even if we catch the one who did this, more will join knowing they can do some damage."

Delia's argument caught Giovanni's attention and he saw the truth in her logic. He looked back at the lava advancing slowly and at the burning buildings at the foot of the volcano, "water, ground, flying and anything big and strong, fire would be resistant to the heat, all of them could make a difference."

"Like what?" Luke was confused and so was Delia for a moment.

Giovanni then spoke into his cell phone, setting it to target all Team Rocket individual communication devices within a reasonable range to make it in time. He sent a signal with his exact location while explaining the plan, "this is Giovanni; everyone is ordered to report to the location in this tracking signal immediately. The explosion at the volcano was a challenge against Team Rocket, but we'll turn this attack into a useless effort. The water pokemon will put the fire out and after that's done they'll help cool the lava that escaped. The ground pokemon will use the terrain to contain the lava and stop it from advancing. Any pokemon that are strong enough to climb up the volcano carrying rocks will cover the flow of lava at the opening on the volcano's side; flying pokemon will cover the opening with rocks thrown from above."

"Cloyster, Kingler, let's put the fire out, water gun!" Delia sent out her pokemon urgently. 

Luke released his pokemon as well, "Poliwrath, Tentacruel, like totally water gun that fire out, dudes!"

"Golem, stop the lava from going any further," Golem focused his power in making the earth lift in a small wall, little by little in front of the lava, causing it's flow to be temporarily contained. The lava was certainly dangerous, though not too liquid so it was very slow. "Machamp, Rhydon, go up the volcano and fill up the opening with rocks."

Machamp and Rhydon ran up the volcano's side carrying rocks from those that had fallen after the explosions. The opening was big, but they got to work immediately trying to cover it up. Unfortunately, the rocks were carried away by the lava and at the foot of the volcano Golem was having trouble keeping up with the increasing amount of lava.

A team of local Blastoise arrived, the presence of the firefighters and the police made Giovanni consider abandoning the scene, but he reminded himself that he was not on the run, Team Rocket was too strong for that and he was too proud to hide. If he left after answering to the challenge, it would be the same as losing.

Several undercover members of Team Rocket arrived; releasing their pokemon and having them follow the established plan adding Beedrill, Spearow, Golbat, Golduck, Primeape and Vaporeon to the team. Along with the four Blastoise from the Cinnabar Island fire department. The flames were controlled and kept from spreading until they were put out, but the lava was still flowing slow but steady.

"Get the water pokemon up on the volcano and have them use water gun on the rocks the others put in," Giovanni ordered, changing the strategy to stop the problem at its source. 

The new plan worked, with the water helping fuse the rocks to the cooling lava, instead of letting them be carried away. The pokemon continued the same process until the opening on the volcano's side was completely sealed. The rocks were held in place long enough to fuse into a solid wall with the lava's heat on the inside and being cooled from the outside to stay in place. 

The final step was to make sure the lava that had escaped was fully contained, which the pokemon did, piling rocks in its path and using the same strategy to make the lava fuse them together. With the situation under control, the water pokemon focused on cooling the lava, to help it become solid faster, but the emergency had passed and the Blastoise could finish the job on their own.

"Call back the pokemon, we're done here. Everyone has the new mission of investigating who caused this," Giovanni ordered. The Team Rocket members quickly obeyed, recalling their pokemon into their pokeballs and hurrying away in separate directions. Giovanni left towards the port, followed by Delia.

The police didn't try to stop the trainers as they left, there were rumors about Team Rocket's influence on Cinnabar Island, but there was not enough proof and business was being carried out carefully, besides, they had been of vital help.

xoxox xox xoxox

As the ship left Cinnabar Island's port, Delia looked back at the helicopter sitting motionless near the coast. She wondered if it had really been sabotaged, she was looking at it, thinking about the recent turn of events, when an explosive went off on the helicopter, causing a chain reaction with its fuel tank that lead to a large blast. The ship was far enough not to be damaged, but a few near by buildings caught on fire from the flaming pieces that were thrown at them.

Delia stared at the fire while it became a small light in the distance as the ship sped towards the sea, the Blastoise from the fire department were exhausted but mercilessly fought against the flames until they were extinguished. "Someone is trying to kill us," Delia whispered in a voice so soft it was inaudible. Who could possibly hate Team Rocket enough to do this? The organization had its faults, but it wasn't that bad, at least she liked to believe it wasn't.

Giovanni was, understandably, in a very bad mood. Someone dared to challenge Team Rocket, to make an attempt on his life and had gotten so close to it. He was glad he had fully answered the challenge instead of going right to the search for the culprit. Now that had become his new priority, to find out who did this and get revenge. It would be known how dangerous it was to pick a fight with Team Rocket.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia and Giovanni returned to Viridian City, an investigation was already on its way to find out who was behind the attack. Luke had stayed in Cinnabar Island to investigate, Leah should have been there too, but Delia didn't see her during the emergency, she hoped Leah was alright, maybe she was with Han.

Delia's cell phone rang and it was Luke according to the display, she wondered if he had found any important clues and why he wasn't reporting to Giovanni if that was the case. She answered immediately, "hello?"

"Delia, I have to like tell you something, you know?" Luke sounded more afraid than Delia had ever heard him. "Are you like alone?" 

A few minutes ago she had gone off to check on the pokemon at the Viridian headquarters while Giovanni continued his duties commanding the team and overseeing the investigation despite the distance. "Other than the pokemon, yes, what is it?" The need for so much secrecy puzzled Delia greatly.

"Don't like get mad, you know? It's just that I like know who attacked," Luke was worried, guilty and terrified, he was at a loss of what to do, how to make things right, what choice to take...

"It's okay, you can tell me," Delia encouraged him, feeling the tension in his voice and trying to hide her own.

"It was like Han, my twin, you know?" Luke confessed.

"Why?" Delia was in disbelief, she expected what Luke had to say to be shocking, but she never expected this, "why did he do that?"

"He said Team Rocket is like evil, but he like wants to talk to you. Leah convinced him, you know? Dudette, you like have to come! You need to like talk some sense into Han, if he like challenges Giovanni it'll be like totally bad. Please Delia, like save him!" Luke begged.

Her eyes were wide; her face froze with open mouthed shock, her hand trembled gripping the small cell phone, "where are you?"

"We're like still in Cinnabar Island; no one like knows who caused the explosions, you know? Please dudette, like totally keep it like a secret!" Luke emphasized the need for secrecy; he knew the consequences would be dire for Han, Leah and himself if Giovanni found out.

"I understand, I'll be there," after the call ended, though she had given her word to keep the secret, Delia thought it would be foolish to throw herself into the hands of a would-be murderer, even if he was Luke's brother. 

Perhaps Han was the evil twin like in a movie, or the amnesia he suffered had resulted in him developing an entirely different personality, a terrible one. Delia feared for Luke and Leah's safety. Maybe the reason Leah didn't answer the call to all the Team Rocket members in the area during the emergency was because she was being held hostage. The theories haunted Delia as she ran to inform Giovanni. He would come up with a plan, he would save them all; Delia was sure she could rely on him.

xoxox xox xoxox

The investigation team was working on compiling a list of suspects to blame for the attack, among them people who had initially been against the construction project on Cinnabar Island, people who for various reasons held a grudge against Team Rocket and current members who had originally belonged to other gangs. Of course, the real culprit was not on that list, only a few had learned that Han Eisley, alias Noel, was still alive.

"Giovanni, I need to talk to you, now," Delia was discrete but urgent, her tone sharp and worried.

"Keep working on that list," Giovanni left the investigation team to their task, following Delia down the hall, until they were away from anyone else. "This better be important."

"It is, I just got a call from Luke, he thinks Han was behind the attack, I thought it was suspicious, he might have Leah hostage," Delia revealed, "don't blame Luke; I'm sure he never saw that coming."

Giovanni took a moment to process this new information, "who is Han?"

"Luke's twin brother, who was thought to be dead, but actually had amnesia and left Cinnabar Island to start a new life. He was recently reunited with Luke and Leah. Luke wanted me to go to Cinnabar Island and try to talk Han into backing off, because he knows he doesn't stand a chance against Team Rocket. What are we going to do if he really does have Leah hostage? She was there in Cinnabar Island but she wasn't there during the volcano emergency, it has to be because Han stopped her and you should have heard how nervous and scared Luke was." Terrible theories formed in Delia's mind and her worries showed on her face.

"Stay calm," Giovanni thought about what she had revealed, it was a lot of information to receive so suddenly. He focused; his expression analytical, while the little Meowth perched on his shoulder remained confused with the conversation.

"You're right," Delia took a deep breath, "we can handle this, everything will be fine," she continued trying to convince herself of that, as she always did.

Luke had not given Giovanni the report, instead sneaking behind his back and trying to make Delia walk into a trap. That was unexpected, and unforgivable, "are you sure that was Luke who called you?"

"Positive, it was his number, his voice and who wouldn't recognize his style of speech? That was definitely Luke talking, but I don't think he's a traitor," Delia insisted, convinced that Luke was a victim to the situation.

"He tried to cover for the culprit and lead you to a trap, he is a traitor," Giovanni would not forgive Luke for this betrayal, even if he was a part of Team Rocket since the beginning, perhaps especially because of that.

"Leah might be a hostage and evil or not, Han is Luke's twin brother. He was there during the Volcano Princess act at the flame festival, Han was the Magmar who told the story and the other was Luke," Delia revealed. "Those were Han's Flareon, how could he train pokemon so well and be so evil?" Delia had always believed pokemon to be good, and if they participated in wrongful acts they must be being forced. She thought pokemon wouldn't want to willingly follow a trainer who was truly evil.

From Giovanni's point of view that didn't help make the situation appear to be any better for Luke, who had been playing at the festival instead of being out on a mission. It didn't hit him until then, the possibility of Team Rocket's size making it easy for certain members to become traitors and get away with it unnoticed until it was too late. Giovanni couldn't trust them, not the way he used to; he couldn't trust any of them.

"Giovanni?" Delia observed his bitter expression with worry, but he must be coming up with a plan, he had to.

"We'll draw them out; learn their plans, how many allies they have, as much information as possible, then we'll capture them all." After thinking about it, Giovanni concluded no one would be daring enough to attempt such an attack alone, but he also had no specific idea of who Han's followers could be, aside from the long list of people who held a grudge against Team Rocket, but there was no proof against them yet.

"Infiltration?" Delia summoned all her courage, "I'll do it!" The recent danger had been very real, but Delia was convinced she would be alright. She trusted that Giovanni and Team Rocket would protect her and her friends.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 28: Give me Kindness

The evening sun sunk into the horizon in Cinnabar Island, marking the end of a very busy day. The city was tense from the recent attack, with people watching their backs and jumping at the smallest sound. The tourists had mostly fled, piling into the ferries until there was no more room and heading to the mainland of Kanto. The locals stayed in their homes, locked in, wondering if this would be a stand alone incident and fearing that it might become the first of many.

"Dudette, I'm like so glad you're here, you know?" Luke greeted Delia as soon as she made her way off the ferry, which was nearly empty of passengers, save for her and a few others. Those others were probably on the island to try to talk friends and family who had stayed into leaving.

To use Team Rocket transportation would be too suspicious, so Delia traveled as a regular visitor would; giving the impression she wanted to remain unnoticed by Team Rocket. "I'm sure we can work things out, everything will be alright."

Luke nodded solemnly, not quite believing her, but wishing he could. "Let's like talk at my house."

Delia followed Luke to his house, which was very close to the beach. It was a small but cozy little house that clearly hadn't been maintained in years, but still kept its charm. It was painted white, with blue ocean waves decorating it. The paint had started to come off over the years of being exposed to the constant ocean breeze, but rather than making it look shabby, it made it looked lived in and welcoming.

Luke opened the door and stepped in, followed by Delia; he closed the door and bolted it as soon as she was inside. "Dudes, I'm like back!" Luke called out, with less energy than he normally would.

A man physically identical to Luke emerged from one of the connecting rooms and came into the living room. His hair was the exact loud red-orange shade as Luke's and he too had a tan and blue eyes. His eyes, despite being the same ocean blue color as Luke's, held a very different look as they scrutinized Delia critically as if she were a vile creature. "So you are that man's-"

"Han," Luke gave him a warning glare, bothered by the amount of spite his brother piled into the words 'that man' and determined not to let him so openly insult Delia.

"You are, Delia, the Rocket boss'... girlfriend," Han rephrased it. "My name is Han Eisley, though I have been going by Noel, and as you know, I'm Luke's brother." He lacked Luke's speech pattern but what stood out the most was the anger in his voice. "Sit down; we need to have a long talk."

Delia wordlessly took a seat on the old but comfortable sand colored couch, with faded seashell pictures. Her gaze never left Han's face, her anger obvious in her expression at the one who had caused so much damage. Luke sat beside her, nervously biting the index finger of his white glove without realizing it, he was still in his Team Rocket uniform.

"My brother insists that I talk to you, but be assured that I have no intentions of accepting Team Rocket and their evil deeds," Han warned.

"Where is Leah?" Delia spoke for the first time since she had entered the house, her voice firm and demanding.

"Why do you want to know?" Han yelled back, suddenly losing his temper.

Delia's glare became deadlier, "if you hurt her-"

"Please like stop, dudes, both of you!" Luke interrupted. "Leah is like safe, she's here, but she's like having a hard time dealing with things, you know?"

"I want to see her," Delia insisted, her expression unchanged.

"You can't," Han denied in anger.

"How do I know you're not holding her hostage?" Delia was not following the plan to get as much information out of them as she could, but she didn't care, Leah's life could be in great danger.

"Don't put me in the same level as you Rocket scum!" Han yelled, clearly enraged.

"Stop!" Leah exited the only other bedroom in the little house. "Please stop..." She sat down next to Han, her gaze downcast, expression tortured, she couldn't look at Delia.

"Leah, I'm glad you're not injured," at least Delia could put one worry out of her mind. Her voice was soft, calm and supportive all of a sudden; it made Leah cry.

"I'm sorry," Leah whispered softly. She might have preferred to be regarded as a traitor, instead of being treated with such understanding that made her feel so guilty. She had never fully felt comfortable in Team Rocket, but followed Luke to it and stayed. Now Han was back, her lost love, but he was so different it broke her heart. 

Leah had decided to return to him and though he didn't remember her, seeing the photos of their past and hearing the stories, he took her back. Still, he had changed so much it pained her to think what the old Han would say about his current self if he ever got his memories back. Perhaps it didn't matter, he had become a different person and memories may not be enough to restore him to how carefree and gentle he was before.

"It's not your fault," Delia tried to comfort Leah.

Leah didn't reply, instead crying quietly, Han took her hand, "you don't need to stay here."

"I want to," Leah refused to leave, "I have to hear this again." 

Luke's frown deepened, appearing alien on his face which was always adorned by a big smile, but he didn't say anything.

"My brother told me why you originally joined Team Rocket," Han spoke, "he said you wanted to help the pokemon and allowed them to take you prisoner for that purpose. Then you ended up as one of the team and even got close to the boss. You've been so corrupted I don't even know if you can still be reasonable."

"Corrupted?!" It was true that Delia let a few things slip that she wouldn't in the past and even participated in them. It was true that she had become more open minded and accepting of the new Team Rocket, but that did not mean she was corrupted. She was simply no longer quite as naive as she used to be, she was braver and stronger. "I did not plant explosives in a volcano risking the lives of many!"

Luke ripped his glove with his teeth, biting into his finger by accident and yelping in pain. He sucked on his aching finger and noticed that no one was paying attention to his predicament anyway.

"The people of Cinnabar Island are just as bad as Team Rocket for accepting them. Team Rocket uses Cinnabar as a trade point and they're planning to establish a business here to make that easier. Everyone knows how terrible Team Rocket is and yet they let them do as they please out of fear or maybe even economical benefit. They unfairly justify Team Rocket. If they're not willing to fight against Team Rocket, then I'm not willing to protect them," Han argued defiantly.

"No one is asking for your protection!" Delia retorted with the same challenge and resolve, "all you have to do is not hurt them. Do you even realize the risk of what you've done? You seem to know a lot about Team Rocket, do you know where our base of operations is?"

"The Viridian City Gym," Han revealed with a mix of frustration and anger, "the authorities know but they don't do anything, it seems Giovanni is good friends with the mayor."

"If you know that then why, instead of involving innocent people, didn't you go to the Viridian Gym? If you hate Giovanni so much, why didn't you just challenge him to a battle directly? I'm sure he would have been happy to wipe the floor with you!" Delia yelled.

Han stood furious, "you insolent little-!"

"Stop it! Dudes please, we're like not getting anywhere like this!" Luke raised his voice beyond the other two and signaled for Han to sit down again.

With clenched teeth and fists, Han sat down; Leah beside him had her face buried in her hands. "I want to make the people of Cinnabar Island and of all Kanto fight back. They will know that if they don't stand up for themselves, they will never be free of Team Rocket!" Han growled.

"Protesting is one thing, but you need to understand that no matter how strongly you feel about something, hurting others is wrong. Besides, people are not obligated to hate Team Rocket; people are not obligated to agree with you. They can have their own opinions, even if you don't like them!" Delia had a strong dislike for those who used violence to prove a point, hindering the lives of those who were not to blame in hopes of forcing them into joining the cause. 

Before Han could argue back, Luke intervened again, "Han bro, just like please tell her the story, man!"

"Fine," Han took a deep breath and began to narrate his tale, "some time ago I was in an accident which made me lose my memory. When I woke up I was underground, lost and confused in the darkness. It was a group of Diglett and Dugtrio that led me to the surface. I wandered around Cinnabar Island lost, hungry, exhausted and hurt. People looked at me, many with concern, but when I approached them they turned away and that made me think their concern was for themselves and not for me."

Han continued, "I later found out my brother had not taken the news of my supposed passing calmly. He had tried to dig me out from the cave-in, convinced I was alive and he was injured in the attempt, but would still not accept my apparent death. He wondered through the streets of Cinnabar Island and got angry at those who tried to offer sympathy, those who had given up hope. Because of that, I was not found, even if I was seen; they assumed that I was Luke. For that event I hold no grudge against my brother or the people of Cinnabar Island; it was because of this that I experienced many things. Those things were painful, but they've made me who I am."

"I made it to the main land thanks to the kindness of the captain of a cargo ship that had just made his first trip to Cinnabar Island following his newly assigned trade route, Captain Adoy. On the ship I finally received food and medical attention. Forever grateful, I set out to continue my search for my lost past in Fuchsia City, but no one on the busy streets recognized me. I later learned that Leah had shut herself in her room with her pain, so she didn't see me at Fuchsia City, I don't blame her for that either. The story was repeated all over Kanto, I visited each city, but no one seemed to know me and in the end I gave up."

"It's ironic to think people were hurting for my absence and I was wishing to be found, yet we would not be reunited until such a long time had passed; maybe this was my destiny. I returned to Fuchsia City after journeying all over Kanto and found Captain Adoy again. He asked about my story and after learning of my fruitless search, he offered me a job and I worked at his ship. I never really went far from the ports during that time; I didn't venture into the streets of Cinnabar Island again. I didn't think that was my past home, I thought that maybe I had been visiting when the accident occurred."

"When I had a vacation from my job, I decided to take another look around Kanto in the areas that I had spent the least time before. It was in Viridian City where I had my first run-in with the Tempest Gang and it's because of them that Vaporeon, the pokemon that was given to me by Captain Adoy to keep me company, was killed in battle protecting me. Desperate to make it up to the captain and to at least try to honor Vaporeon's memory, I caught two Eevee, but Captain Adoy refused to take them, instead saying I should raise them. In the end, I couldn't bring myself to evolve them into Vaporeon, the memory was too painful."

"There was a time when I saw her again, the woman who ruthlessly attacked Vaporeon with an Electabuzz. That woman with the violet hair and cold green eyes; she was wearing a Team Rocket uniform. I wondered if she had been a spy infiltrating the Tempest Gang in the past. I avoided a confrontation and ran away; I thought that my pokemon would be killed if I fought even if she didn't seem to have her unnaturally strong Electabuzz anymore, who knows what might have become of it; she had a Ghastly instead. Later I was ashamed of myself for running away and for leaving her free to cause more damage."

"I heard the Tempest Gang was defeated by Team Rocket and later I heard a rumor about New Island, news travels fast at the ports; I had to investigate. I set out on a small boat and made it there, sneaking in past security. There wasn't a whole lot of security there and not the entire place was operational. I guess that was the reason for the lack of security, it wasn't fully established yet and many areas were still heavily under construction. Regardless of that, I saw what they did in the few semi-operational areas, conducting terrible experiments on pokemon and using cruel training methods. I left before I was found, I guess it would be impossible for me to get in there now, no doubt, the security system must have been fully implemented by now."

"Team Rocket has been making a lot of illegal deals with stolen goods and controlling the market to their convenience. To top it all up, the boss even became a gym leader, staining everything the Indigo League stands for. The police are powerless, the politicians are too comfortable and people are cowards. Team Rocket is a terrible organization of nothing but villainous criminals. They steal, they lie, they threaten, they take what's not theirs and leave nothing but destruction in their path," Han finished with vast hatred and bitterness.

"It's not true," Delia whispered, "it's... it's different!" She took a deep breath, trying to organize her thoughts, she recognized Aayla as the woman from the story, the description fit and she had previously been with the Tempest Gang, doing things their way. Delia knew Luke and Leah must have realized Han was talking about Aayla as well, though Han didn't appear to know her name.

"New Island has changed," Delia insisted; she didn't want to think about the terrible things Han spoke of having witnessed there before. "It's a research facility for the study of extinct pokemon. They're only experimenting on rocks now, it's different!"

Han didn't look convinced in the least, while Delia continued, "I know Team Rocket has been dealing with stolen goods, but someone had to step in, the flow of stolen goods can't be left to continue. Someone has to set things right and put the resources to a good use. We rescue pokemon and take care of them. Sometimes you have to bend the rules to do what's truly fair. We may not be a legal organization, but we're not evil." 

"The person whom you battled," Delia made sure to keep Aayla's identity a secret and only spoke in general terms. "I'm sure she found a new life with Team Rocket, abandoning the Tempest Gang's terrible ways. The Tempest Gang was truly evil, Team Rocket protected Kanto from them, we saved the pokemon and we helped discover the cure to the epidemic that threatened all pokemon!"

"The way Team Rocket had the cure first, I find it suspicious," Han argued. "What's more, they took advantage of that, abusing people's pain and desperation to be unable to save their pokemon unless they could pay the expensive price of the antidote. The bureaucracy of the official pokemon products regulation isn't much better, but the fact remains that Team Rocket took advantage of the suffering of others!"

"Without Team Rocket there would be no cure at all! You need to realize how much the world owes Team Rocket!" Delia felt hurt and angry that Team Rocket was insulted along with Giovanni, her friends and herself.

"Listen to yourself Delia!" Leah was the one to interrupt this time, surprising all those present with her unusually loud and harsh tone. "You didn't used to be this way, anyone could see it. It's true that Team Rocket's influence brought some good consequences, but Giovanni doesn't care about that, he just wanted the power, riches and the useful connections that came along with everything. Team Rocket has become like the Tempest Gang and worse. They attack the innocent and steal from them; they rule the underworld of Kanto with threats and fear. They do terrible things in New Island and the deals they make, the consequences they cause... You have no idea how many people have been hurt by Team Rocket, you've been kept in the dark, Giovanni's been sheltering you. He's using you for your skills at taking care of pokemon and your connection to Professor Oak."

"That's not true!" Delia couldn't believe this was Leah saying all those terrible things. "At first Giovanni didn't even know that Professor Oak had been my teacher, I was the one who told him that. We helped with his research, don't you remember? Professor Oak agreed to work with Binks, he agreed to give us the antidote's formula first because he knew the official testing would take too long and there was no time left for the pokemon. Professor Oak knew he was doing the right thing." 

Delia continued, "my skill with pokemon is not that different from anyone else who cares about them, it's nothing unusual. I'm not being used, Giovanni appreciates me. The one who is being used is you, clinging to the memory of a man who did nothing but ungratefully force you into a dangerous situation as thanks for your devotion!" Leah was shocked to hear Delia throw the truth at her face and Han was enraged. 

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. Luke and Han's house is based on Kai's shop from Harvest Moon.


	7. Part 7

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 29: Give me Loyalty

The tension had broken into a heated argument and Han decided he would not listen anymore. "Flareon!" He called out two fire pokemon of the same kind in blind rage. "Don't move, you're going to help us like it or not!" He clearly intended to use Delia as a hostage against Team Rocket.

"Cloyster, Kingler!" Delia called out her pokemon as well, "I'm not letting you take me hostage and I won't let you hurt anyone else!"

"You don't have a choice!" Han yelled absolutely enraged, "Leah, Luke, help me!"

"Stop this bro, I like won't help you, man!" Luke refused, pained and sad.

Leah held a pokeball in her hands unsure of what to do, but before the battle could truly start, the doors and windows were broken and a flood of black uniforms with red Rs entered the house.

"Flame thrower!" Han's orders echoed along with the commands issued to various pokemon. Delia didn't have time to battle; she was pulled away by the crowd of black uniforms with faces she was no longer familiar with.

"Cloyster, Kingler!" Delia was pushed out of the house, leaving her pokemon in the middle of the battle.

"Delia," Giovanni was there, she knew all along he was listening to the conversation from the small transmitter microphone she hid. He tried to lead her away from the chaos, but she didn't want to move.

"Cloyster and Kingler are in there, Luke and Leah too and... everyone," Delia watched the small house, there was no room for another person or pokemon in the tiny structure and battling in such close quarters was dangerous.

"There's nothing you can do," he was right and she knew it, but she still didn't want to leave. "Delia, let's go."

"Wait," she ran towards the disarray of people and pokemon, making her way just close enough to recall her pokemon into their pokeballs, then was pushed back out again. "Cloyster, Kingler, I hope you didn't get hurt," she held the two pokeballs tightly.

"Is that all?" Giovanni asked impatient and disappointed.

Delia looked back at the house, listening to the noises of the battle, the mix of commands, growls, battle cries, and cries of pain. "This is not how it's supposed to be," she was in shock as Giovanni led her away from the destruction and from that point on, everything was a blur. 

There was the noise of a helicopter, the ground was further away, there were clouds, the ocean below and a little Meowth looking up at her with worry. She heard voices, orders being given, yelling and anger. "What do you mean he escaped? I don't care if he planned it, how could he slip away? A tunnel under the house? Follow it! You incompetent fools better capture him! Take the others to New Island, don't let them escape and cover this up quickly, we can't draw any more attention right now."

Time passed but Delia wasn't sure how long, she only remembered bits and pieces of what happened. "We were lucky that the police was busy focusing on their investigation in the area around the volcano, they could have been troublesome. This happened because he doubted Team Rocket's power, but Han and his allies will know not to challenge us again. From now on there will be more training for all members," Giovanni spoke of his plans, annoyance and anger clearly showing.

xoxox xox xoxox

The scenery had changed; night had already fallen when the helicopter landed on New Island. "Delia? Have you even been listening? You didn't follow the plan, you lost it; I'm disappointed." Giovanni left, while Delia still sat in the helicopter, 'I'm disappointed,' the words rung out in her head.

She was alone in the helicopter for a while; the pilot had left as well when Giovanni got off right after they landed. Meowth had jumped off Delia's lap, calling out to her to follow them, then ran after Giovanni as he walked further away, called out once more, and finally gave up and hurried to catch up with Giovanni.

"This isn't how it's supposed to be," Delia whispered to no one, she had forced herself to be energetic and optimistic, but she was tired of that. Finally taking in her surroundings, Delia tried to organize her thoughts. All the stress she kept bottle up exploded; it was the stress she thought was cured with one day of happiness. Maybe there could be more days like that, but instead of looking at the bigger picture, she knew she was only seeing the portion she liked and ignoring the rest.

She finally exited the helicopter, her expression was serious and her pace firm, but her gaze was lost. She made her way inside the facilities of New Island, blocking out the sounds and images around her. She approached the first person who dared to make eye contact, "where have the prisoners been taken?"

"They are in the basement," the scientist nervously replied. Delia didn't waste a second before going down to the basement.

xoxox xox xoxox

Instead of the shades of gray that dominated the upper floors, the basement was effulged in darkness, all pure black save for the areas directly below the dim lamps that projected a weak beam of light. There were rows of cells, mostly empty, save for three that were occupied. Two of those were in the middle of the row and one at the very end. Growling was heard from the cell at the end of the hall, but Delia couldn't see the source.

In the other two occupied cells were Luke and Leah. Luke heard the approaching footsteps and looked at Delia, immediately apologizing. "I'm like so sorry, you know? I totally shouldn't have like asked you to come and I like shouldn't have tried to stop Han on my own like in secret, you know? I should have just like been loyal to Team Rocket, man! But that's like over now, you know? Han's like not my bro anymore, it's him, but not like him, you know? I wish I could like fix this. I respect Giovanni a lot, you know? That's why I like never..." He stopped; there was no point in saying such things now. He had liked Delia for a long time, but he would never try to openly compete with Giovanni whom he admired so much.

"That's not the way it is," Leah spoke, noticing the one standing there was Delia and not a stranger from the lab. "Han is nice and considerate; he's sweet and kind, but also adventurous and brave. I don't care about Team Rocket anymore, but that man dishonored Han's memory and I want him to pay. I'm sick of being in denial; I hope Team Rocket finds him," her pain, frustration and bitterness were evident in Leah.

"Have you been interrogated?" Delia finally spoke, trying to keep her determination strong and her voice neutral.

"Not yet, dudette," Luke admitted, with a tone that hinted that he had no energy left for secrecy anyway. "It's all like a mess, the team is like too big and hard to manage, you know? It'll have to like totally be retruc... re-struc... like made all neat and stuff, you know? I can like see why things are like slow right now and kind of like chaotic, you know?" Maybe they didn't think he would talk, but Luke was repentant for his betrayal to Team Rocket, all for a man who was nothing like his brother at all.

"Restructured again, yes, I know Giovanni has been trying to keep up, but he'll have to delegate more tasks and make sure there's better communication or he won't be able to keep things running." Delia knew some of the members who had been there from the beginning were starting to play a bigger role, especially Archer, Ariana, Proton and Petrel. The four participated in the management of Team Rocket and the negotiations process. Other original members, such as Luke and Ben, preferred to be out on the field. Delia took a deep breath and looked at the guards, "leave us."

They stood unsure, not wanting to leave, "but we need to stay, because..."

"That's an order," Delia spoke more firmly, her gaze stern.

"Yes, ma'am," one of the guards left, though the other kept looking back and forth between the path his companion took, banishing into the darkness, and Delia who was waiting.

"Just go," a more familiar voice encouraged and the remaining guard nodded and left. The man who had arrived was Binks, but there was something different about him. His strangely cheerful expression, messy hair, blood stained lab coat and the look in his eyes, all held a certain psychotic tone. "It's ironic isn't it, how the world spins around. Here I am about to become a legend of science."

"Binks, what happened to you?" Delia knew there was something wrong, his appearance made it obvious, plus he spoke as if he wasn't speaking to her, as if he carried a monologue no one would listen to.

"How are you today, my beloved curse?" He walked to the cell at the end of the hall. "I kept my promise, you're strong now, but you broke yours, you said you'd be okay, that you would, no matter what, still be yourself. Come now, my rank depends on it, it's not official yet, not until I show proof," his eyes shone with insanity as his smile widened.

Delia curiously approached puzzled and worried; the being inside the cell could hardly be called human. It was a strange creature with bruises and cuts all over its body, covered in dry blood. It had long fangs and claws, choppy violet hair, dirty and rough, but the feature that stood out the most were the bright green eyes, angry and wild.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, far away... It had been a while since Haunter started wandering around free and more so lost. His trainer was no longer able to keep a pokemon and her scientist friend had freed him saying "I am not worthy of training you." Haunter felt an immense sadness for his past trainer, but didn't know what to do. He flew away, wishing to get away from the pain.

He had been wandering around aimlessly when he found a tower in Lavender Town, far away from New Island where he was released. The tower felt welcoming so he let himself in, floating inside to the very last floor, which didn't seem to match the others. The final floor of the tower was filled with toys, unlike the lonely darkness of the lower floors. This room did not have the eerie atmosphere that dominated most of the tower, or the multiple layers of dust. It made Haunter wonder if there was someone living there and his silent question was soon answered.

"Ghastly?" Another ghost pokemon arrived, curiously inquiring about the visitor with a surprised and uncertain 'hello?' looking at Haunter shyly.

"Gengar, Gengar?" One more ghost pokemon appeared, this one fully evolved and wanting to know, 'who are you?' asking with a little more confidence than the younger one, though not really challenging.

Haunter replied in pokemon language, which a human would be unable to understand, 'I'm a wild pokemon, I guess...' he wasn't sure what else to call himself. 'My trainer couldn't keep me anymore.' Strange salty water came from his eyes again; he had thought ghosts didn't cry, but he was proven wrong.

The other two ghost pokemon knew Haunter didn't want to go into the details of his past. Ghastly voiced quietly, 'the same thing happened to us.' Their trainers were also unable to keep them, though their fate might not have been as bad as that of Haunter's trainer.

Gengar stepped forward with an offer, feeling that he and his younger brother could identify with this newcomer. 'If you have no place to go, you can stay here with us. We'll play all night and sleep all day until we forget about our worries.'

'Yes, you should stay,' Ghastly encouraged, with a gentle smile different from his kind's usual expression, matching his brother's supportive tone. 'We'll tell each other jokes, if we play and laugh, we won't be sad anymore!'

Haunter agreed and remained in the tower at Lavender Town with his new friends for years, until one day, a boy revived his curiosity for the outside world. Haunter decided to follow the boy at least for a little while. He didn't know why, but even if he was fond of the boy, he wanted a different kind of trainer, a strong young woman. If there really was a reason for this preference and he had forgotten it, there must have also been a good reason to forget about it.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the laboratory in New Island, Delia stared at the creature before her. She was so angry, so frustrated and so very disappointed that she could not say anything, or even show any form of expression. It was as if she had too many emotions and they cancelled each other out leaving Delia with empty despair. "Aayla..."

"Be careful, she bites," Binks took a small camera from his lab coat pocket and filmed Aayla for a few seconds, before turning off the device and returning it to his pocket. "See you later," he walked away, as if he had ceased to live, or perhaps his mind was living elsewhere, in a place where his perception varied greatly from the truth.

Delia finally felt her warm tears run down her face. "It all fell apart," she whispered, then she forced herself to stop and dried her tears. "One last time, if I can't fix this now, it's all over." It would be her last attempt to pick up the pieces. "Luke, Leah, please tell me, where did Han go?" 

"The tunnel like leads to the place where the construction is, you know? The people who are like working there, Han like told me about them, but they're not all like traitors to Team Rocket, you know? Some don't like know, what's going on, you know?" Luke sounded exhausted and sad.

"They are planning an attack on New Island, Han said they would do it if they convinced Captain Adoy to cooperate and use his ship," Leah revealed, she didn't care if she was left to die in that cell. She didn't care about anything except stopping that man from staining Han's memory further.

Delia nodded, "thank you," she took her small black cell phone with the red R. Giovanni was somewhere on New Island, in the laboratory, but there was no time to waste looking for him. Besides, Delia had a plan to carry out that he would not approve of. "Giovanni, prepare New Island to defend against a possible attack by sea. Also, you should know that most of the Cinnabar Island construction crew are traitors, but not all of them. I'm going to end this battle now; we'll talk about the future of Team Rocket when I get back." She didn't give him time to reply and she didn't explain herself further before she ended the call and looked at the caged being who was once Aayla. "If it's okay with you, please be my partner for this mission, Aayla. It will be Team Rocket's last mission as a criminal organization or my last mission as a member of Team Rocket."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 30: Give me Appreciation

No one tried to stop them, though they received odd glances. Delia and Aayla, the latter covered by a big lab coat, too large for her size and a white cloth tugged into it like a hood, made their way out of the laboratory. Aayla was very quiet; the source of her calm being Delia's way of interacting with her, as if nothing was too different in her, as if the situation was the only real issue to deal with and not Aayla's current state. It made her remember who she was and keep a grasp on reality beyond her wild aggressive instincts.

Albeit Delia didn't approve of many of the things Team Rocket was doing lately, she simply could not bring herself to betray them, especially not when they were on the road to improvement with the new purpose of New Island being the study of the legendary Mew through archeology. But many changes still needed to be made for Team Rocket to be acceptable.

Even as she mused over such thoughts, Delia knew her resolve would crumble and she would stay, albeit she firmly opposed Team Rocket's crimes. It would most likely come to Giovanni making her leave if he got tired of her trying to convince him to change Team Rocket, as she intended to do. That was what the future appeared to hold, unless by some twist of fate, destiny dealt in a new card that changed everything and made her reevaluate her position.

Outside, Delia rushed to one of the boats, it would be far too reckless to go for the helicopter, as she had never attempted to pilot any sort of flying vehicle before. However, there was little to crash into out at sea, where sinking was harder than falling. She could manage with one of the little boats and she remembered the general direction of how to get to Cinnabar Island from New Island despite the darkness.

"You don't get sea sick, right?" Delia started up the boat before Aayla could reply; sea sick or not, they had to leave immediately. Besides, the truth was that Delia couldn't picture Aayla getting any kind of motion sickness and was just filling in the silence before it became too eerie.

The little boat sped away from New Island, as someone, Delia didn't have time to see who, was alerted by the noise and loudly called out "stop!" but of course, she didn't stop. She still carried her small glossy black cell phone with the red R, but the device was turned off so that Giovanni wouldn't flood it with calls asking for details about her recent revelation of the impending attack on New Island, her whereabouts and her intentions.

"Lights... lights..." Delia found the switch and the lights of the little white and red motorboat came on, "there, now how do I move faster?" She was mostly guessing at the controls and didn't want to mess up and become stranded, or worse yet, be caught by someone from Team Rocket who would take them back to New Island, preventing her from solving things once and for all in her own way.

Aayla stood from her previous position sitting in the back of the boat and turned a switch on the control panel of the tiny, but high-tech water vessel. The engine roared with more power, carrying them forward much faster than before. Aayla didn't say a word, but Delia knew she wasn't all gone and when people treated her as they normally would have, her old self would surface.

"You know how to drive a boat? If so, by all means be my guest and take us to Cinnabar Island as quickly as possible!" Delia left Aayla to drive; she did very well even in her current condition and was in control of the small vessel, despite the sea having become considerably less gentle than it had been that evening. 

The boat rocked back and forth, the engine fighting against the waves, trying its best to move forward and not be overturned. Aayla growled like a wild beast sensing a storm and seconds later, the dark night sky was pierced by the ferocious crash of lightning. The electricity from the sky lit up the area all around them, revealing a larger ship up ahead. The ship had no lights, making good use of the cover of the night.

"Oh no," Delia knew right away that ship was trouble. Regular ships did not follow that route and it felt very unlikely that a cargo or passenger ship would coincidentally get lost and go that much off course precisely at the time when an attack against New Island was expected and with all its lights off no less. It had to be the enemy ship, it was the only explanation. "We're late; they came earlier than I thought. Han must be on that ship, but maybe we can still negotiate peace, tell them Team Rocket will be different... Ah!"

Aayla suddenly picked up Delia wrapping one arm around her waist and throwing her over her shoulder. Aayla jumped off the little boat before a big wave combined with the force of the much larger approaching ship caused the small vessel to overturn. The two women surfaced and Aayla let Delia go, allowing her to instead hold on to her back. Aayla jumped on the hull of the larger ship and climbed up with her claws, with Delia on her back, until they reached the dark deck of the ship. The scratches were superficial and not deep enough to perforate the hull.

Their presence had not gone unnoticed by the crew of the ship that had once been commanded by Captain Adoy and currently followed Han's orders. They were immediately surrounded. Han was indeed there, as the leader of the movement that hoped to take down Team Rocket, he appeared before the two uninvited invaders looking defiant and victorious. "Have you come to surrender yourselves?"

"We came to talk," Delia felt the first few drops of water fall from the heavens as the gray clouds shifted unseen in the endless blackness of the skies. It was as if the world itself feared a terrible outcome was inevitable and had already begun to mourn. "Reconsider what you intend to do, let's not fight. Mistakes were made on both sides and if this goes on there will be a lot of unnecessary sacrifices!"

Han would not listen to reason at this point and it was questionable if he was ever truly willing to listen even when he humored Luke by meeting Delia. All Han wanted now was to annihilate Team Rocket. "Take them prisoner, though I don't think they will be useful as hostages. I have come to understand that Team Rocket would take down one of their own without a second thought."

"This is hopeless..." harsh rain began to pour as Delia felt herself sink back into the despair she had been fighting.

Aayla growled at one of the men that tried to take her prisoner and the man backed away; frightened by her appearance. The look in his face angered Aayla who wildly grabbed his throat, sinking her claws into it and shaking him strongly.

"Aayla, no!" Delia wasn't sure if she should be trying to stop Aayla or those around them. Deciding that she could not deal with everything herself, she let out her pokemon; it was all she could do. She hoped for a miracle like in the past, but this time, there would be none. "Cloyster, Kingler," the heavy rain mixed with her tears, "attack," her voice was barely audible at first, then finally loud and agonized, "blizzard!" The two pokemon made use of the weather, taking advantage of their type. The enemies let out their pokemon as well, but Delia didn't stay long enough to battle beyond a distraction, "Aayla, we're leaving!"

It was hopeless; Aayla was consumed by rage, wildly fighting anyone who approached her, pokemon and human alike. Delia knew she had been foolish to take Aayla along, but she couldn't leave her at the laboratory like a caged beast.

"Aayla!" Delia's pokemon would not be able to battle for much longer being so outnumbered, "I'm sorry, I have to go but I won't abandon you, I'll come back for you. Kingler, Cloyster, follow me!" Delia jumped overboard, followed by her pokemon, who helped her stay afloat in the angry ocean. "Underwater and under the ship, to the other side," Delia took a deep breath and held on to her pokemon. She closed her eyes tightly and focused on holding on to them, until they surfaced on the other side of the ship after what felt like an eternity.

Han ordered his troops to chase Delia, some reluctantly sending their pokemon out to sea despite the raging storm that became stronger by the second. However, they lost track of her when she went underwater. The crew on deck focused on trying to restrain Aayla, who went even madder with rage when anyone attacked her.

With the chaos and thus the crew, focused mostly on the right side of the ship, the left was relatively unprotected. "Cloyster aurora beam, Kingler vice-grip, we're going to sink this ship!" Storm or not, it was better than having them fight a losing battle with Team Rocket, it was for their own good, to stop the fighting, Delia was desperate.

Cloyster shot out his beam towards the hull of the ship and Kingler hit the weakened area hard with his strong claws, the action was continuously repeated until the hull was penetrated and water began to flow inside the ship below deck. This was dangerous, but as things stood, what awaited the crew of the ship in New Island was even more dangerous; Delia had to keep reminding herself of that. Besides, she couldn't leave New Island and those on it exposed to an attack.

"There she is!" One of the enemies called from the deck, right above Delia. The tremor caused by Cloyster and Kingler's attacks did not go unnoticed and they were soon discovered. Unexpectedly a new attack shook the large sinking ship; a strong beam hit it from the front. 

In the bright light created by the shining streams of energy and electricity, Delia could clearly see three black ships with red Rs painted on the side approaching to meet the sinking enemy vessel. The ships were slightly smaller then the enemy ship, which served as an additional advantage in speed, though they were still relatively large. The Team Rocket ships were also better armed, with canons powered by pokemon encased in machines that amplified their power for long range attacks, as well as regular weaponry. 

"They're here..." Delia had thought Giovanni would prepare New Island to defend against the approaching invasion, but she should have known he would meet the attack head on. "Cloyster, Kingler, let's go towards those ships."

xoxox xox xoxox

"There's someone coming, a person swimming with two pokemon," Petrel, who was in charge of watching the look-out cameras on Team Rocket's leader ship, announced. He had caught sight of two pokemon and a human battling against the rain, wind and waves to get close to the ships. 

"What should we do?" Archer asked Giovanni, who was in the control cabin of the ship heading the assault. "Should we attack them?" He held his hands over the controls, ready to target the suspected enemies. Archer was assigned to captain the leader ship, taking orders directly from Giovanni. The other two ships, directed by Proton and Ariana respectively, were to follow the leader ship's strategy.

"No, it's not likely for one of them to approach alone, confirm this person's identity first." Delia was missing, when she was upset she could do crazy things and he knew she was very upset. Giovanni wouldn't put it past her to try to negotiate with the enemy one last time and end up having to make an emergency get away.

"Boss, identity confirmed," Petrel announced, "the person approaching is Delia, with a Cloyster and Kingler."

"Just as I thought, get her on board," Giovanni ordered, not sure if he should be angry at her recklessness or glad that she was alive.

"That's not all," Petrel noticed something unexpected on the monitors; "the enemy ship is sinking! But I don't think it was us."

Archer glanced at the monitor Petrel was pointing out, in a wall filled with many monitors next to the vessel's direction and weaponry controls, behind a large glass window. "The way its tilting is odd, it's as if it has an opening on the lower part of the hull on the left side. I know we didn't hit it in that area, all our attacks have hit the front and deck."

"Delia, it must have been her," Giovanni could think of no other explanation and for a moment his surprise was evident, soon fading into a look of victory. "This battle is as good as won, with their ship sinking, the enemy will try to slip away even in the storm. Don't let them escape this time, capture every last one of them and keep a close watch on their leader."

xoxox xox xoxox

"Cloyster, Kingler, thank you, you can rest now," Delia returned her pokemon to their pokeballs and tried to catch her breath as she was led inside the Rocket leader ship's deck and saw Giovanni. "Their ship is sinking, Aayla is there, she was helping me, we have to get her out, we have to..."

"It's alright," he hugged her tightly, taking her by surprise.

"Giovanni, the ship, the battle," Delia cried, but held on to him, "I'm getting you all wet..."

"It's alright, we won; this battle will end now. You sunk their ship and Team Rocket won." Giovanni led her away from the chaos of the battle to the relative calm of a private cabin below deck. This was the potential he saw in her, he remembered beyond all doubts why it was worth it to be patient with her all that time. She was resourceful and loyal, too emotional sometimes, but none the less he could count on her. "That was... amazing. I don't know how you found out about the attack, the traitors, everything, but it was a big help."

It was a victory for Team Rocket, for the heroes, Delia would like to think, but in truth the present and future were full of uncertainties. Despite it all, a part of her wanted to be proud of the victory and happy to be acknowledged, to be seen as someone amazing and to be appreciated. "You're not disappointed anymore?"

"I should have trusted you more, in the end you were able to do more than I thought any one person could accomplish," Giovanni admitted. "Rest here, I need to keep an eye on things above deck."

"Giovanni, don't forget Aayla, it would be my fault for asking her to go with me if anything happened to her. I promised to go back for her, so please make sure she's safe." Delia insisted, it was for this reason that she had left Luke and Leah in New Island, she didn't want to involve them. Aayla had no relation to Han and she had always been so strong that Delia thought she would be alright. "She looks different, but she's still Aayla, don't show fear or anger, she gets upset when people do."

Giovanni nodded, deciding that the request was easy enough to fulfill, despite the unusual condition. "Alright, I'll tell them to send Aayla to this ship, now dry yourself and get some rest, I'll see you soon." He kissed her quickly and left, he wasn't wrong to think she could go far, he wasn't wrong to expect great potential from the woman who had surprised him so many times. 

Delia was turning into who Giovanni pictured her becoming; he thought that victory was proof of it. With the approaching changes to restructure Team Rocket, he needed her to be ready to play a bigger role. When they first landed in New Island earlier that night, he was starting to doubt she would ever be prepared, but perhaps if he believed in her, she would prove to be ready after all. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 31: Give me Optimism

The storm had begun to subside and the waves in the ocean became gentler, but the sea refused to be completely still, as if conveying the restlessness of those who inhabited New Island. Captain Adoy's ship had sunk to the bottom of the sea, but the captain did not go down with his ship. He was effortlessly taken prisoner when members of Team Rocket boarded the sinking ship to make sure not a single enemy slipped away in the cover of the storm. 

It would be very unlikely that they would survive the storm out at sea without a vessel, though with the help of strong water pokemon it was not completely impossible and that was a chance to escape Giovanni would not give them. It was that decision, which did not concern their safety at all, which in the end saved Captain Adoy from drowning. The captain, who did not like confrontations, had his ship taken by force and was being held prisoner aboard the vessel, Han had been desperate.

Captain Adoy knew too much, so he, along with Han's crew, would suffer a similar fate as those in the Tempest Gang in the past, given up to the police for them to employ their resources in keeping them in jail. With his growing political influence, Giovanni could make sure that they, and those who were previously imprisoned from Tempest before, did not get out for many years. It was a simple, effective and not too messy way to get rid of the problematic group, at the same time giving the authorities someone to blame.

The New Island research facilities were not constructed to hold prisoners, with only a few cages available large enough to contain humans. They were made to keep human sized pokemon, albeit those were rare in the laboratory, since the smaller ones were easier to experiment on. However, one of the three Team Rocket ships that had been in the assault was equipped with cages below deck to transport human sized pokemon or larger. Cages were harder to break out of than pokeballs and made it possible to monitor the pokemon constantly. It was in that ship that the prisoners were kept temporarily, in the shores of New Island.

It was still night, but it would not be long before the sun rose in the horizon, signaling the beginning of a new day that was already off to a bad start. Delia had left the ship she was on when they reached New Island and gone to the laboratory to see how her friends were doing. It was hard to tell if Binks was better or worse, he was sleeping when Delia found him, curled up in what had been Aayla's room, hugging a bloody ragged pillow with stains that matched the shades of red and maroon on the walls of the once immaculate white room. Rattata sat at the foot of the bed looking up, waiting patiently and worried for her trainer to wake up.

Shaking her head solemnly, Delia headed back to the door but stopped. She had decided that things had to change and they would. "Binks, wake up!"

He woke up startled at the sudden voice, jerking up suddenly and looking around the room in a panicked daze. "Where am I?" His hair was as messy as before and his clothes were just as dirty, his eyes were far more bloodshot, but also more focused despite the heavy scent of alcohol in his breath. 

Delia wished he was only drunk and not insane; it was hard to perceive the smell of liquor above the scent of fresh blood before. Maybe he had been in shock and his mental capabilities gave out temporarily, she certainly hoped it was only temporary. "Binks, are you sane?" It was not a gentle approach, it was indeed a terrible one, but Delia was simply too tired to sugar coat her question.

"I sure hope so," Binks rubbed his temples, feeling his head pounding harshly. "I have a hangover," he admitted, "I'm sorry, did I say something strange? I can't seem to remember anything." He examined his surroundings and asked again even more perplexed than before, with added fear when he woke up enough to realize the bloody walls were not leftover illusions from a nightmare, "where am I?"

"You're in the New Island laboratory," Delia's voice and expression reflected her lack of sleep and exhaustion from pushing herself so much that night. "I'm not sure where to start, but things are going to change, the purpose of this laboratory and many other things," she was simply too tired to think about the specifics at the time. "Why don't you start by getting out of this awful room and cleaning yourself up?"

Binks nodded, examining his own filthy appearance. "Yes, you're right, I badly need a shower." Rattata hopped on the bed wagging her tail, glad to see her trainer was awake and seemingly in a better state than when he fell asleep. "What a bad trainer I am, I'll get you cleaned up too Rattata, I don't want you to get sick." Then he seemed to remember something all of a sudden when the daze of the hangover finally allowed his memories to resurface, which filled his face with alarm, "where's Aayla, she turned into a..." he dared not say monster.

"She's alive," Delia assured, at least that's what she was told, of course, it would be too much to say she was okay. "She's still human despite her appearance and I trust you will do anything you can to get her back to normal."

"Yes, of course," Binks was aware that Delia must have realized his call when she was at Cinnabar Island was a lie. Aayla couldn't speak, not because of having her tonsils removed, but because she had lost the ability due to the mutations and could only growl. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have lied, I was in denial," he was clearly repentant.

"Look to the future, all we want in the end is to rebuild our world and hope has not failed me yet," not completely at least, or maybe hope had died long ago and Delia was only holding on to its ghost in a deeper denial than that which plagued Binks. "Be strong for Aayla," those were Delia's parting words to Binks before she went to see Luke and Leah.

xoxox xox xoxox

The situation reminded Delia of the past, only gloomier. There was a time when Team Rocket had no place to go, they were homeless with their biggest asset being their abundant courage and unbreakable determination, it was the only thing they had to their names back then. Delia remembered the time right before the Viridian Gym was freed from the Tempest Gang to become the new home of Team Rocket. The team had changed infinitely, but there was still hope, as they say, when you hit rock bottom all that is left to do is climb up, they had done so before so why not accomplish it again? Team Rocket would stay on top, never again to fall so low; Delia wanted to make that happen.

She was on the first floor of the laboratory, about to head towards the basement where the cells containing Luke and Leah were, when she saw Giovanni coming in after checking on the prisoners on the ship. He only glanced at her, but that was enough, she hurried to him concerned with how stressed and tired he looked. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, everything has finally settled down," they were both clearly exhausted as he led her out of the laboratory and towards the leader ship where they could rest.

"Where's Aayla?" Delia immediately inquired, "you said she was with the team." Delia had asked about her friend as soon as she saw Giovanni again when they arrived back at New Island and he had told her that Aayla was alright, that she was with the other members of Team Rocket. 

Giovanni wasn't fully aware of how much Aayla's appearance had changed, he assumed she might have a few scars maybe, but never guessed she had been mutated that much. He assumed that Aayla had to be somewhere in the sea of black uniforms with red Rs, he never got to see the video Binks took, but if Aayla had accompanied Delia in her reckless mission, then she had to be well enough. None the less, Aayla's whereabouts were a mystery; it was another thing that had to be dealt with later. "I don't know," Giovanni finally admitted.

Disappointment and frustration quickly returned to Delia full force, "you said she was with the team, were you just guessing? You really don't understand; I knew it was a lie, but I wanted so badly to believe you!"

"Delia," he interrupted raising his voice above her upset accusations, then paused as they went onboard the ship anchored at shore and down to the cabin below deck, "I have a lot on my mind right now," he finished in a softer tone, weary rather than annoyed.

Delia nodded, filled with guilt; it was her foolish choice that could have cost Aayla her life for all she knew, but she couldn't throw her anxiety at Giovanni, he had never looked this stressed and tired for as long as she had known him. Everyone was at breaking point if not beyond it, perhaps even the seemingly invincible leader. "I'm sorry, just forget about what I said," the words tasted bitter, she couldn't believe what she was saying. "Right now all that matters is that the crisis has passed and soon everything will be running smoothly again."

"There's a lot to be done," just going over the long list of plans he wasn't sure how he would accomplish threatened to give Giovanni a headache. 

"Yes there is, and it will be done, I'm sure it can be accomplished," they were in their cabin at the leader ship, safely behind locked doors, away from the tension of the aftermath of the chaos, "there will be no more traitors in Team Rocket."

No more traitors, if only everyone was that loyal. Outside, the sun shone in the early morning, but instead of waking up as the people of Kanto must have been doing in their homes; Giovanni and Delia were finally going to sleep after being awake for nearly twenty-four hours. 

The cabin was slightly more elegant than the rest of the ship, but it was still simple with plain floors, lacking the plush carpets of a truly luxurious cabin. There were no glass chandeliers, fancy entertainment systems or expensive furniture, but there was a soft comfortable bed, with fluffy pillows clothed in the same dark red of the sheets. It was not a color Delia felt like looking at, but it didn't matter, she was thankful she could finally rest. 

Delia's slumber was fueled by exhaustion alone, as her thoughts refused to be silent, the grim possibilities of Aayla's fate were still in her mind along with similar pessimism related to Luke, Leah, Binks and Team Rocket in general. She kept subconsciously pushing those thoughts away as they haunted her nightmares.

xoxox xox xoxox

It was mid day when Giovanni woke up; he had a lot of work to do, a lot of trust to test and even more to take away. He would not leave any openings for betrayal; somehow, he would accomplish it, even if it felt as if it was impossible. Perhaps Delia's optimism was what kept everything together after all, along with her uncanny ability to do what needed to be done in the most critical moment.

Delia woke up soon after Giovanni. Her slumber was not restful at all and the images of nightmares were still fresh in her mind. She still felt tired, but she didn't want to go to sleep, even if it seemed impossible, her dreams really were worse than reality. She was clinging to Giovanni so strongly in her unconscious state that he could not get up without waking her.

"You can rest a little more," he finally escaped her tight embrace, which was so much more welcoming than the situation that awaited him, but he knew he had to face, the sooner the better.

"No, I'll get up too, I'm not that tired," her rapid heartbeats and quick words were not due to being energetic, but to the unconscious rush of adrenaline from nightmare induced fear. "There has to be something I can do, I'll help out with anything, I want you to count on me." It was true that they disagreed on many things before, but they were making progress and it all started with Mew. Delia just had to keep finding ways to make the right things appear as the most beneficial path to Giovanni. 

Her apparent burst of energy was another of Delia's surprises, "you're energetic for someone who hasn't had any caffeine in over twenty-four hours." Giovanni could use some coffee, the last time he had any was in Cinnabar Island before the volcano attack. He had been a little distracted when the explosion suddenly came, he was thinking, analyzing, while at the same time listening to Delia, wondering how ready she was to play a bigger role in Team Rocket. 

His thoughts from that morning were set aside after the crisis began and now was certainly not the time to think of such things. But even he had to admit that this time he would need someone to help him more directly, someone he could rely on, someone that reminded him that nothing was truly impossible, someone he could trust completely.

Delia wondered why Giovanni looked so lost in thought all of a sudden, so analytical and plotting, yet at the same time so human. "Giovanni, did you hear a single word of what I said? Are you sure you don't want to get some more sleep? You never get a lot, but maybe you should this time. I can go take a look around and bring you the full report; I don't want you getting sick from exhaustion." She made herself smile, for a moment forgetting all that she had lost, all that she thought she lost, all that was uncertain, all that was left behind and all that was destroyed. Instead she focused only on what she was thankful to still have. For a moment despite it all, she looked radiant, too good to be true.

Now was really not the time, but for once, he didn't care. He retrieved a small black box from his pocket, he wasn't sure if the time was right back at Cinnabar Island before the attack, the atmosphere had been, but that was not the part that truly mattered. Beyond the walls of the cabin, uncertainty awaited, all the more reason to have at least one certain thing in life, he placed the little box in her hands.

Delia looked at the box curiously. Was it a jewel he meant to give her and forgot about after the volcano was attacked? She knew to expect something fancy and expensive, rare and valuable, she was right, but the contents of the box still surprised her. It was a ring, a beautiful platinum ring with a big diamond on its center.

"Marry me..."

Delia could hear her own heart pounding as time stood still and for a fleeting blissful moment all the bad memories went away, all the negative events were erased and she felt as if they were the only two people in a perfect world. She was about to answer, she was about to accept, but before she could speak, the ship rocked violently. 

The noise that came with the sudden movement was loud enough to go through the thick walls of the cabin. Delia gripped the box, closing it in her hand as she struggled to stay on her feet. Before she could even think, she was running out of the cabin after Giovanni, rushing out to see what was happening. Everything descended into chaos from there, it was a massacre.

One of the ships was on fire, sinking slowly into the relatively shallow waters of New Island's coast, the flames near the bottom turned to smoke as they reached the water, but the top of the deck was still ablaze, it was impossible to get in. The explosions had come out of no where and all Team Rocket could do was try to put the fire out. It couldn't have been Han or his allies; they were imprisoned on that very ship.

A chain reaction with the machinery, cannons and fuel supply had been started on the ship carrying the prisoners where Leah, who looked less sane than Binks, was standing at the bow of the ship, motionless with a wicked expression. She was quiet, sweet and polite, but she carried a lot of pressure she did not let out until she finally snapped, she could no longer run away from her problems or keep them bottled up. 

Leah had learned a lot from Aayla when they were still friends, becoming a skilled thief with her ability to remain unnoticed. She knew how to pick locks, not that the lock of her cell was particularly hard to pick, since no one would expect pokemon to even try. Leah's suffering began when Han supposedly died, and it only became worse when she found out he was alive. She cursed the man who stained Han's memory and killed him along with all his followers.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 32: Give Me Freedom

It was daytime, but the room was dark and depressing, all the windows were closed. It didn't matter, the day was dark outside anyway, with heavy rain and gray skies. There was no harsh wind, the world wasn't angry, it was sad. That was all Delia felt; she had no room left for more. She was back at the Viridian Gym, the place she might have once called home, but the word didn't fit it anymore. 

Giovanni was busy, his proposal, which she didn't get a chance to answer, had been forgotten for the time being. After Leah's sudden attack everything dissolved into chaos and many lives were lost. The aftermath was finally settling in. 

Delia stood from her bed and dug out an envelope from a drawer filled with copies of her favorite pictures. She kept meaning to make an album and never got around to it, she probably never would. The plain white envelope contained pictures of happier times; the first she took out was a picture of Giovanni and herself on the day of the victory party when Madame Boss had visited. She had given Giovanni her resources that time, only because she knew he didn't really need them at that point, then she went away. 

The next day a box had been delivered to the gym in the mail, it had no sender address, but it got safely through security and was given to Giovanni. The box contained a glass ornament with a small yellow sticky note that read 'to brat boy from mommy', Delia wondered where it was; Giovanni probably got rid of it. Madame must have sent it to annoy him. The ornament was a glass orb with a strange color changing glow inside it, mounted on a polished but aged metal base. The inscription on the base read 'anima: verus mysterium' which translated to 'soul: true mystery.' 

That was a different time filled with wonderful hopes and dreams nothing like Delia's current worries and nightmares. Giovanni was stressed, arranging a cover up and making up for the lost resources, while getting rid of incriminating evidence. All of that affected Delia greatly.

She turned the TV on and changed the channels to display the morning news, where they were talking about the weather. She left the TV on and continued thinking about the disaster, unable to push it out of her mind. The ship carrying the prisoners had been destroyed, the bodies drowned or charred depending on what level of the deck they were kept in. Han and his followers were bad people, Delia had concluded, but they didn't deserve that, they didn't deserve to helplessly die a painful death. Leah died along with them, despite it all, she was still a dear friend to Delia and she would never return.

For all Delia knew, Aayla could be dead as well, drowned probably. She was strong, inhumanly so, but Delia had grown tired of hoping for a miracle, her hope was dead and she no longer held on to its ghost. The deaths of Leah, Han, his allies and captain Adoy were confirmed. Aayla's mutated body had not been found, but that was not enough to make Delia believe she survived. Luke spent the entire ordeal in his cell, curled up into a ball in a corner. He didn't look up at the chaos, noise and alarm, he remained motionless, he was breathing, but inside, he was lifeless.

The weather woman finished her report and the image on the TV changed to the main anchorman of the morning news. He was giving an update about a supposed terrible accident. Delia watched the TV as the man reported, "it has been confirmed that the S.S. Lapras, a cargo ship captained by Windu Adoy, sunk two days ago. The vessel, that normally followed a trade route between Fuchsia City and Cinnabar Island, sunk several miles south of its normal route. It is unknown why the ship was in that location, but a terrorist take over by the same organization that attacked the volcano known as Princess at Cinnabar Island is suspected. It has been determined that the S.S. Lapras sunk due to the harsh storm that assaulted the area on the night when the ship went missing two days ago. The coast guard is making an effort to further investigate and recover the bodies of the crew. Tune in to our evening news for a further update on the situation."

The anchorman made a small pause then continued on with the next report, "in other news, a series of petty robberies have been reported in a small stores and households all over at Cinnabar Island. Peculiarly, only food was stolen, though there has been some minor property damage. Ameda is at Cinnabar Island to bring us more information."

The image changed from the anchorman in the gray suit and blue tie sitting behind an immaculate white desk, to a field reporter. The reporter was a woman in a maroon suit, who shared the same shade of light brown hair and green eyes as the anchorman. She was his younger sister, who was rumored to have been hired by the news channel simply because of her brother's position. 

She smiled at the camera, a little too cheerfully to fit the topic of her report. The background showed the main street of Cinnabar Island with stores lining it. Several people stood next to the reporter, waiting to express their worries and lack of trust in the Cinnabar Island police. "Thank you Jango, I am here with-" Delia turned off the TV cutting Ameda off at mid sentence.

The cover up seemed to be going alright. Regardless of how strange it was for a ship belonging to an experienced sailor to sink, it could be attributed to a lack of sailing knowledge on the part of the terrorists. The police wouldn't dig too deeply into that logic and Delia knew it. They wouldn't try to make sense of the state of the sunken ship, if they even bothered to further study how the hull could have been perforated and the deck damaged. Even if the signs of a battle were obvious, it could all be attributed to the situation of the hijacked ship. 

The fact that some of the bodies were burned when they were dumped at the site where the S.S. Lapras sank would not be questioned either, it was just an unnecessary complication to add to the restlessness of the already stressed population of Cinnabar Island. It would only make their anxiety spread to Kanto and that was bad publicity. The authorities would come up with an explanation saying there was a fire on deck or something like that. New Island wasn't mentioned at all and Delia didn't expect it to be. That was the real Team Rocket and to them what had happened was only a set back. It was a catastrophe of resources and a strain of influences, but not a true loss as deep as it was for some.

Delia didn't know what kind of fate would befall Luke, he was probably still being held prisoner somewhere. Unless it was decided that due to his proximity to the massacre and his connection with the deceased, he knew too much and the risk of having him talk was too great. Perhaps he was already dead. Yet all Delia could do was try to help Giovanni keep things running smoothly to prevent another betrayal that would lead to tragedy. She had lost too much already and didn't want to lose him too.

"What have I become?" Delia looked in the mirror, she was exhausted despite having slept; her slumber was as restless as ever. Her eyes were red from crying in her sleep and she felt lost in the middle of everything. What could she do? Continue trying to persuade Giovanni to be good while he continued to turn her into someone she disapproved of? He had changed, but no where near as much as she had and she could no longer deny it.

That was how the days passed; Delia was quiet, but effective in her job. She was playing her part, gathering information, reporting suspicious activities and supervising that everything at the Viridian Gym headquarters ran smoothly when Giovanni was busy. She also trained his pokemon so that he may step into the role of gym leader effortlessly whenever he needed to keep up appearances. 

Delia felt sick with herself and the situation around her, but she didn't protest. If Giovanni noticed her discomfort at all, he was too occupied to say anything. He had no complaints at least; she was doing her job well. Perhaps he was pleased with her performance, but to her it was only that, a forced act.

It was on one of those mornings after Giovanni had gone off to work, that Delia stayed behind a little longer, fighting with her morning sickness. It was a product of stress, she was sure. She always managed to hide it from him; she didn't want to bother Giovanni when he was so busy. She wanted to be as strong as he expected her to be.

Delia dug through the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, searching for some over-the-counter remedy and came across a little box. It was a pregnancy test she kept on hand just in case. She had never suffered any false alarms before, it's not like she was careless. Except for maybe their Cinnabar Island holiday when she was unprepared. She tossed it back in the bottom of the cabinet and grabbed a bottle of pills she knew were at least good against the flu. She read the label on the back wondering if they would be of any help against her symptoms. She stopped reading, as if something clicked in the back of her mind and counted the days in her head. She set the bottle aside and picked up the box with the pregnancy test again; it couldn't be, not now.

xoxox xox xoxox

Five more days passed and Delia had confirmed her suspicions. The atmosphere at the Viridian Gym was not as tense as in the past week, but still a little heavy. People were getting used to being evaluated more harshly and watched more closely. Soon Team Rocket's new structure would be completely stabilized, then it would be time to leave. 

Delia had asked Giovanni about the possibility of Team Rocket ever changing. He told her it would only change to become stronger and she knew what that meant, "I truly wish you the best," was all she could offer as a reply. She didn't argue, she didn't insist, she was facing reality. No more justifying Team Rocket, no more clinging to impossible wishes, it was over.

Delia left after deciding that she couldn't take Team Rocket's criminal ways anymore and she would not even attempt to raise a child in that environment. She took very few things with her. She left her pokemon to Giovanni, he was the gym leader and she had no reason to battle anymore. She took some pictures, precious memories and she took her jewelry box. She didn't take the jewels because of their monetary value, but because of the significance of each diamond and gem within the golden box. Whenever she looked at them she would remember the happy occasion in which she received them. The memory accompanying what would have been her engagement ring was bittersweet, it was a time full of sorrow, but at least he asked, even if it was seemingly forgotten soon after.

She waited until things were stable at Team Rocket, making sure to keep her pregnancy a secret. She couldn't leave until she knew everything would be alright. Or at least, if not alright, things would be how Giovanni intended them to be. Then one night she wrote a letter with a sincere apology for leaving. She assured him she had a good reason to leave, one that she wished he would understand one day, but she didn't elaborate on her reason for leaving. She wrote that she still loved him and wished him the best. In her mind the best would be for him to change the path he chouse to walk and if that did not happen, she at least wished that he would be safe and happy regardless of what he decided to do.

xoxox xox xoxox

Without a real plan, Delia went back to the only place she could think of going: Pallet Town. The following morning Professor Oak found her when he went to check the mail. She was sitting in front of his house having dozed off after a full night of walking to get from Viridian City to Pallet Town. "Delia!"

She woke up at the worried voice, sad that she must have disappointed the professor. "Professor Oak, can I...? Is it okay if...? Can I stay here for a while?" Delia finally pushed the question out in a shaky voice.

"Of course, let's go inside," Professor Oak immediately agreed with gentle concern, "we can have some breakfast and you can tell me what happened."

It was the start of a whole new era in Delia's life. She stayed at Professor Oak's house for some time, until she was able to establish the Pallet House, the only restaurant in Pallet Town. She had decided not to be a pokemon researcher or trainer anymore. She still loved pokemon, but she needed a break from anything that reminded her of the past and cooking had always helped her relax.

Delia was certain that Giovanni must have known where to find her. He had been to Pallet Town before and he knew Professor Oak was like a father to her. It was easy to guess where she would go. He made no effort to find her. Maybe he never forgave her for leaving, maybe he felt betrayed by the only one he thought he could trust, maybe he thought it would be too troublesome to try to keep her around, maybe his trust had been irreparably broken, maybe he just stopped caring, maybe they were better off apart. Delia honestly had no idea what Giovanni could have thought and felt when he read her letter, but in the end he let her go.

xoxox xox xoxox

Even before she gave birth, Delia would refer to her baby as Ash. She wasn't sure where the name came from; perhaps it was because the baby would be born from the ashes of her past life. Or maybe it was because of her wish to be reborn from the ashes and rise above adversity, like in one of the legends about Moltres. She had a feeling it would be a boy, though if it had been a girl, she would have named her Ashley.

Months passed and Delia's little boy was finally born, he came a bit early, at 10:10am on May 22, but he was healthy. When she first saw him after birth, she thought about giving him a more cheerful name than Ash, but she had already grown used to calling him Ash. If anyone asked her where the name came from, Delia simply said she liked the name and thought it sounded cool. She never gave anyone any further explanations and everyone knew not to ask too many questions.

xoxox xox xoxox

Time went on and Delia got used to her new way of life with Ash. It wasn't easy, but she managed to get through life one day at a time and her son always made her smile. When Ash was four years old, Delia received a mysterious letter, which had been sent to Professor Oak. She was at his house when he told her about the letter after taking Ash to play with Gary.

"I didn't know what to think of it at first," Professor Oak admitted. "That envelope with your name on it came inside another envelope addressed to me. Well, it only said Professor Oak, Pallet Town, Kanto. But when it comes to Pallet Town, not much else other than the name of the town and the recipient are needed for the letter to get to the right place," it was a benefit of living in a small town where everyone knew everyone, including the mailman. "There was also a note," Professor Oak showed Delia the note, clearly puzzled by it, wondering if she would be able to make sense of the peculiar correspondence.

Delia held the sealed envelope with her name on one hand and the note for Professor Oak in the other, reading curiously. "Hi, Oak dude, could you like please give this to Delia? I'm like not sure if she's like in Pallet, but I like thought you would like know how to find her, you know? Thanks, man! -Luke." Her eyes went wide in surprise; leave it to Luke to write the same way he spoke. "It's from Luke; it has to be real, who else would write like this?"

"I guess this means you know him?" Professor Oak only knew Binks and Giovanni from Team Rocket, but the team was far from his mind at the time. If Team Rocket wanted anything with Delia, they would have stormed into Pallet Town a long time ago, she wasn't really hiding.

Delia hastily tore the envelope open to see what Luke had written to her. "Luke is a friend from... a long time ago." 

Professor Oak didn't inquire about it anymore. He didn't ask about anything beyond what Delia was willing to tell, but he knew the words 'a long time ago' meant Team Rocket. When she first arrived, she would get defensive if he did as much as mention Giovanni's name in a disapproving tone and would go over all his redeeming qualities in response. Though they went they're separate ways, Delia didn't want anyone to criticize Giovanni. Thus Professor Oak concluded that maybe it was best not to bring up the subject unless absolutely necessary. Either way, Delia had done well in handling things despite all that she had gone through, most of which would forever remain unknown to Professor Oak.

Delia silently read the letter and she couldn't help it but to smile at Luke's style of writing. "Hey Delia, I like hope you're well dudette. It's been like forever, but I hope you like get this letter, you know? I guess that if you're like reading this, you like got it. I'm okay, I like apologized to," there was a smudge of messily erased pencil, the outline of the letter G still somewhat visible, "you-know-who, and he like later let me go on missions. The missions are like really hard, but I'm okay, you know? I want to like be like before, you know? Like trusted, you know? Between missions I'm like training this totally awesome Beedrill that I'm like going to give you-you-who as a present. Sorry I can't like visit, you-know-who might get like angry if I do, you know?' There was a big smear following that sentence, as if Luke had started writing something more, changed his mind and erased it all. He ended the letter with, "I like hope you're okay, good luck dudette," and signed his name.

Luke was kept prisoner and later sent on dangerous, possibly suicidal, missions, but he was alive. That was the only letter Delia ever got from her past, and she could not reply to it. Luke had left her no address to reply to, but she was still thankful she had received his letter.

Ever since that fateful night when Delia and Giovanni met in the Cerulean City Pokemon Center, many things happened and many things changed. Delia knew she would never be completely free of her past, but she knew she would treasure it. Perhaps true freedom was not in the ability to forget, but in choosing to remember.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. Aayla's Haunter is the same Haunter that later follows Ash and helps in his battle with Sabrina, Gengar and Gastly were from the Phantom Patrol. "All we want in the end is to rebuild our world," is a reference to Rufus' quote from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. The name of Delia's restaurant came from a manga and Ash's birthday is from a novel.


	8. Part 8

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 33: Give me Mystery

It was October thirty-one and Saffron City was filled with lights, Jack-o-lanterns, pumpkins and various Halloween decorations. Ghastly, Haunter and Gengar predominated as the pokemon featured in the decorations. The sun had set less than an hour ago and the streets were already flooded with people in costumes. Parents took their small children out to collect candy and older kids went together in groups. 

Delia wasn't sure how she got herself into that situation, but Gary's mother could be very insistent when she wanted to be. Gary's parents had been invited to a Halloween costume party at a friend's house in Saffron City. They insisted that Delia went as well and took Ash along so that he and Gary may go trick-o-treating together. That was how Delia ended up volunteering to take the boys out to collect candy so that Mr. and Mrs. Oak could stay at the party. 

She took in the sweet scent of the cheerful night, made sure her tail was where it should be, adjusted her ears and confirmed that the red jewel on her forehead was still there. Then she took the hands of the two five year old boys to lead them across the street and towards the near by park. Delia had heard there was some kind of city sponsored Halloween event there. "It looks like most of the trick-o-treating is going on at the other side of the park."

"I'll get the most candy!" Gary confidently declared. He was dressed as a Squirtle, matching his parents' costumes. His mother was a Wartortle and his father a Blastoise.

"No, I'll get the most candy!" Ash, who was dressed as a Charmander, immediately responded to the challenge. Ash and Gary had been rivals for as long as they could remember.

The two boys pouted at each other as invisible sparks of determination flew. They looked forward, towards the other side of the park where the lights were the brightest, laughter echoed and music was heard. They tried to shove each other aside, shoulder with shoulder as they glared. Then they started marching more hastily with each step, until they started running. 

"Wait up you two!" Delia ran after the boys, she should have known they would run off the second she let them go. She dashed after them, her long curly tail wagging as she ran. Unlike the boys' full costumes, Delia's costume was a relatively simple accessory costume with a cream colored knee length fuzzy dress complete with a tail sewn in place. She had paw shaped boots, a bell collar, a pair of Persian ears, a red ruby on her forehead and feline makeup with a painted nose and whiskers. Her brown hair had grown longer, flowing down her back and framing her face, covering her human ears.

Before they reached the other side of the park, Ash and Gary spotted an older lady sitting by herself in a lonely bench next to a lamppost. She had a closed book on her lap, using it as a solid surface to write a letter with red ink on a floral stationary. The woman didn't appear to be carrying candy, but the boys had nothing to lose by asking her for some. Maybe they could get ahead in the race if it turned out she had some candy hidden somewhere. "Trick or treat!" Ash and Gary called out in unison, holding out their smiley faced pokeball shaped baskets towards the lady on the bench.

As Delia caught up to the boys, she took a quick glance at the letter in red ink. She saw the words 'Miyamoto' and 'Mew' within the context of the letter, but despite her curiosity, she made herself look away. It was rude to read someone's private letter and she didn't want to set a bad example.

The older woman reached into her purse and took out a couple of chocolate bars. She gave one to each of the boys, who smiled and chorused, "thank you!" The night was only starting and they had already obtained one of the better treats on their first attempt. 

"Here's one for you young lady," the woman handed Delia a chocolate bar, grinning widely, "I know someone who would really like your costume." The scene brought memories to the woman's mind, though she had not been in costume herself when she put her three year old brat boy in a Charmander costume. It was done mostly for her own amusement many years ago.

Delia froze as she accepted the chocolate. Giovanni had once told her he was born in Saffron City, Madame Boss previously conducted her business in the eastern side of Kanto with a base in Saffron City. Delia didn't think of that when she agreed to attend the party but all the pieces were falling into place. The older lady in front of her happened to look a lot like Madame Boss, Delia finally noticed. She never expected to run into her. Having seen Madame only once before for a few minutes, Delia didn't recognize her immediately. "Thank you," Delia managed to say, pushing out the words to sound as natural as possible, "have a happy Halloween!" Then she rushed away with the two boys who were eager to get to the Halloween party on the other side of the park.

Relatively far from Madame Boss, Delia stood in line with Ash and Gary so the boys could receive their share of candy from the Saffron City mayor. She finally dared to look back across the park and saw the faint silhouette of the enigmatic Madame Boss. It looked like Madame had gone back to her writing. 

Delia evened her breaths and willed the rhythm of her heart to settle down. Even if Madame knew who Delia was, she was not going to call Giovanni and he would not go to Saffron looking for her even if Madame called him. A small part of Delia couldn't help it but to wonder if he would like the costume, but she told that part to be quiet and kicked it to the back of her mind.

"Mom, how come you're squishing the chocolate that lady gave you?" Ash brought his mother's attention back to reality with his curious and concerned question. It was a terrible waste of perfectly good chocolate.

"Oops, I was distracted," she examined the chocolate she had squeezed in her hand, at least the wrapping didn't break, "it's still good, here, you can have it," she added the chocolate to Ash's smiling pokeball basket, which clearly made the little boy very happy. Ash gave Gary a victorious look and Gary pouted, but remained determined to win in the end. There was no way Ash would beat him, even with his mother's help. A Squirtle should be able to beat a Charmander in a pokemon battle, so the same should apply to Halloween.

The encounter with Madame Boss on that Halloween night in Saffron City, reminded Delia of the air of mystery the older woman carried. Then the thought of mystery along with the mystifying atmosphere of Halloween and all the legends that the holiday carried, reminded her of a vivid dream she had years ago. Delia wondered if it was more of an out of body experience than an illusion. Even if apparently no more than a few minutes truly passed during the experience, it felt like hours went by. She had disregarded it as her imagination becoming over active due to too much wine and Giovanni didn't remember the events at all.

It happened soon after the first time Delia met Madame Boss at Team Rocket's victory party after things settled down at the Viridian Gym. Back then, Delia and Giovanni were still happily together. Madame had sent her son an unusual gift; it was a glass orb with an odd glowing color changing light within it. It was mounted on a polished but aged metal base and the inscription on the base read 'anima: verus mysterium' which was an ancient language for 'soul: true mystery.' 

It was a very old relic that could open the door for the image of a person's soul to visit a world of mystery, but the door would not open for anyone and the image may vary in time. The second Delia read the inscription there had been a bright light and when the glow faded, everything had changed.

xoxox xox xoxox

The surrounding area was full of grass, flowers, plants and trees. It didn't have enough trees to call it a forest, but a forest could be seen in the distance, along with mountains, lakes, rivers and very diverse sceneries. There was a little hut near by with a path full of puddles leading to it. It appeared to had rained recently, though it had already stopped and the sun was shining. The hut was made of wood, branches and twigs tied together with vines, giving it a simple rustic yet cute look. It was akin to a picture in a children's story book. 

Delia and Giovanni were very confused, a mere few seconds ago they were in their room at the Viridian Gym. "What is that?" Giovanni pointed at the pokemon in surprise. She was pink with big light blue eyes. He had never seen a creature like that before; he wanted to catch that pokemon.

"Charmander?" Delia curiously looked at the Charmander standing before her, "Giovanni?"

His jaw dropped and his eyes went wide in surprise. "Delia? You're a, a... what are you?"

"You're a Charmander!" Delia exclaimed, then added, "I mean for real this time!" She examined her pink paws and touched her little triangular ears. "I'm not sure what I am," she looked at her reflection in a puddle of water on the path. The image reminded her of one of Professor Oak's sketches from his theories about Mew. "I'm a Mew!"

"The legendary?!" Giovanni didn't know what in the world was going on, but it couldn't be so bad if the legendary Mew was involved. He had never seen a pokemon like that before.

"Daddy, mommy, what's going on?" The little voice belonged to Meowth, who appeared to be puzzled as well. Both of the humans turned pokemon looked at the little Meowth. Despite their changed appearances, he recognized them, probably by scent or instinct. "How come you turned into pokemon? Did you get tired of being humans? I think it's really cool," the small Meowth smiled, he was not alarmed by the situation as the other two were.

"We're pokemon and we're in an unknown place," it all began to sink in for Delia, this had to be related to that light from the glass orb. "Anima: verus mysterium, must be some kind of magic words to turn us into pokemon and teleport us away!"

"I knew you had a big imagination, but that's going too far. Clearly this is some kind of prank from my annoying mother," though he could not explain how she would accomplish such an elaborate trick. "That's not the point," Giovanni paused, his expression was in deep thought, then finally he asked the question that puzzled him so much, "why are you legendary and I'm just a Charmander?"

"Um..." Delia shrugged, she didn't have a real answer so she took a guess, "maybe it's because I call you Charmander all the time?" She thought about the magic words and what they meant. She wasn't too fluent in translating, but she had learned the basics from Professor Oak and those were pretty common words. "Soul: true mystery, maybe Charmander is the pokemon of your soul. I think it fits all things considered. You're stubborn and have a fiery temper, but you can be cunning and strong."

"And you're a legend?" Giovanni didn't remember ever calling Delia Mew. Maybe she was just a rare kind of person; he knew she was unique.

"Maybe?" Delia gave up on overanalyzing things, perhaps pokemon were carefree by nature and it was getting to her.

"I can't take care of things around Team Rocket like this. I can't believe I'm a Charmander, not even a Charmeleon, but a Charmander. I should have been a Charizard or another Mew or something," Giovanni pouted, though his worries seemed to mysteriously fade little by little. "This place is doing something to us, or being in this form is affecting us," he noticed.

"I thought so too, I guess we're adapting to the nature of pokemon. You shouldn't complain about being a Charmander, you look really cute like this. Besides, you don't like pink and if you were a Mew, you would probably be pink," Delia pointed out as she embraced her carefree nature. Professor Oak only had some black and white sketches of what Mew possibly looked like based on ancient stone carvings. He might be surprised if he found out the legendary was pink.

"Alright you have a point, but we still need to do something," Giovanni had no clue of where to start. Everything was strange, but he knew they had to do something fast or they might start thinking too much like pokemon.

"I know what we could do!" Meowth suddenly exclaimed cheerfully and got their hopes up for a fleeting moment, "let's play!"

Giovanni couldn't believe that for a second he actually expected Meowth to miraculously come up with a solution to their odd dilemma. "I really don't think playing will turn us back into humans." He looked at Delia, the legendary Mew, and got an idea. "Delia you're a Mew, use your legendary power to change me back!"

"I'll try," Delia was puzzled as to how her legendary power, if she had any, could possibly be used. "Turn human!" She pointed at Giovanni, picturing his human image in her head. She willed him to change back with her mind, but nothing happened. "I think my move-set is empty."

"I can use the fury swipes!" Little Meowth chirped contently.

"That's very good sweetie," Delia petted Meowth on the head encouragingly, while Giovanni wondered if they would ever be human again. 

"Maybe if you train you'll unlock whatever legendary power you have," Giovanni theorized, then the question surfaced of what he could do. He looked away at the empty space down the path, took a deep breath and blew, but nothing except air came out of his mouth. "I can't breathe fire?" He tried again to no avail then looked over his shoulder at the flame burning on his tail. If he hit something with it, that should work as an attack. But he wasn't used to having a tail so he wasn't sure how to make it work. He reached for his tail moving a little to grab it until he was spinning in oddly amusing motions that culminated when he grabbed his tail. He paused from his task of examining the flame curiously as the terrible realization hit him, "did I just chase my tail?"

Delia was rolling with laughter, though Meowth found the action to be normal and soon started spinning in circles chasing his cute curly tail. "Yes you did!" Delia's tail was longer and did not require a lot of chasing to be caught, "it's a little too easy for me."

"Never mind, let's not stay here chasing our tails. Maybe there's someone in that hut over there," Giovanni started walking towards the hut with Delia following after him. Meowth spun in a couple more circles and caught his tail, before following his parents towards the little hut. 

They curiously knocked on the door and a Pikachu with light yellow fur and pink cheeks opened it. "Hello, I've never seen you around here before, are you new?"

A pokemon, they should have expected that; maybe there were no humans in that place. "Yes, new," to say the least, Giovanni felt very odd talking to a Pokemon, though perhaps she had been a human too, "are you a human?"

Pikachu tilted her head in puzzlement at the odd and obvious question. "I'm a Pikachu; there are no humans around here."

"We're humans!" Giovanni wasn't sure if anyone would believe him.

"Or we were," Delia corrected.

"Really?" The Pikachu paused, then decided she would believe them. "I once heard a story about a boy who turned into a Squirtle. He's not here anymore; he went back to his world before I moved to this area. Maybe someone in town knows more about it; I'll show you around." The Pikachu looked back inside the hut and called out, "Charmeleon, Eevee, wake up, there are pokemon here who say they used to be human like in the story we heard!" She exited the little hut, then looked back once more with small sparks flying from her pink cheeks as she yelled, "hurry up, this is no time for a nap!" She had a temper, but she soon smiled again and casually adjusted the pink bandanna with yellow stars she had around her neck.

A sleepy looking Charmeleon and Eevee exited the hut and lined up in front of it next to Pikachu. "All present and accounted for ma'am," the Charmeleon announced, though he sounded more teasing than serious as he saluted.

Giovanni had to stop himself from glaring, why did he have to run into a higher evolved pokemon of his same species? The Charmeleon looked strong and it bothered him, especially because he couldn't even breathe fire. Albeit it seemed the Pikachu was the leader of their little group, so perhaps she was the strongest.

The six of them made their way into the neighboring pokemon town among further introductions, curious questions and conversation. It was revealed that only the Charmander and Mew, who were called Giovanni and Delia, had once been human, while Meowth had always been a Meowth. The two younger pokemon of their group, Meowth and Eevee became instant friends.

It was not common to have a name unless there were more than one of the same kind living in the same neighborhood. But for the most part, descriptions characteristics and context were usually enough to identify who one was speaking of. Although from a human's perspective it would be much easier to have a name; humans liked naming things. Even if Pikachu, Charmeleon and Eevee had no names of their own, they had named their group Team Chiray, which meant 'ray of energy'.

The little town, located a short walk away from the hut, was buzzing with activity. Pokemon walked around the central plaza, going from one stall to another, exchanging berries and other things. Visiting such a place where pokemon had formed their own civilization without the interference of humans would be a researcher's dream. It was a nice little town that made the two humans turned pokemon relax a little more and begin to feel less hasty to return to their own world.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 34: Give me Perseverance

There was a lovely little valley next to the tiny pokemon town, with soft green grass and a few sunflowers scattered here and there. Eevee and Meowth were running around playing in that cute little valley and Giovanni, a Charmander, was running around for a different reason. He had his arms outstretched, as he positioned himself under the moving shadow of the Mew above. "Are you sure you need me to do this?"

Delia paused her chant of "don't let me go, don't let me go," directed at her flight instructor, a Butterfree, and looked down against the teacher's earlier advice. "Yes, I'll feel a lot better if I know you'll be there to catch me when I fall." When, not if, because Delia had a sinking feeling that Butterfree would let her go the second she lowered her guard. Then she would plummet to the ground as if she were a heavy rock pokemon, unlike the soft pink psychic type she was. Soft and breakable, she couldn't help it but to think about that, she didn't feel legendary and powerful at all.

Giovanni continued following the shadow of the Mew above. Shortly after they had entered the town, the Pikachu and the Charmeleon led them to a little pond, off to meet with a strange water pokemon. The town was filled with many kinds of pokemon, some familiar and others rare. What Giovanni wouldn't give to have some pokeballs, though he certainly wouldn't want to accidentally capture himself while handling them. Plus it would feel odd for a pokemon to catch another pokemon.

The pokemon living in the little pond was called Wishcash and he told Delia and Giovanni an interesting tale. The story was about a boy who became a Squirtle and prevented a terrible disaster from befalling their world. According to Wishcash, if they were summoned there for a special purpose, they would return to their world when that purpose had been fulfilled. If not, they should just relax and enjoy their visit. Neither Giovanni nor Delia could think of a reason why they should be in that mysterious world of pokemon and they didn't know where to start searching for it.

"Why don't you train?" Pikachu had suggested. Charmeleon gave the guests a weary smile, as if he had guessed what she would say. "When in doubt, have a battle and you'll feel better," Pikachu elaborated.

"A battle..." that was when Giovanni began to form a theory. Pokemon were power, they existed for the sake of battling, though Delia would differ and say they were friends. That aside, the fact remained that neither he nor Delia knew how to use any kind of pokemon powers, if they even had any. Perhaps that was their purpose, to master the power of pokemon by experiencing it. 

Giovanni had thought the only way to wield such a power was by capturing strong pokemon. He unlike others in the past, had no intentions of becoming the sword when he could more effectively be the wielder. But this was different, he had already become a pokemon, not some mutant being product of bad science, he was a seemingly normal Charmander.

"Is that really such a good idea?" Delia noticed that Giovanni had the same analytical look he had when he was plotting something. She hadn't seen him that focused in a while, as if trying to find a way to stretch his limited resources to achieve the impossible. She didn't think it was such a good idea to jump into a fight, though a part of her also wanted to know what it felt like to battle from a pokemon's perspective. It was too bad their other pokemon were left behind inside their pokeballs when whatever mysterious power took them to that world.

"It's a friendly battle, what do you have to lose?" Pikachu encouraged.

"Training first," Giovanni decided, he really didn't want to make a fool of himself because he couldn't even breathe fire. He had a feeling that must be the most mortifying dilemma for a fire pokemon.

"We could go to the dojo!" Pikachu's excitement grew.

"Um... I..." Delia shyly looked at her feet, embarrassed to ask, a Mew should already know how to do this if Professor Oak's theories were correct. Her voice was quiet, but it was enough to cause everyone to look at her, waiting for her to finish, "can I learn to fly?"

Pikachu opened her mouth then closed it again, took on a thoughtful expression and finally replied, "you don't have wings." She too had dreamt of soaring and was happy when a larger pokemon gave her a ride. Charmeleon had thought of evolving into Charizard for her, but Pikachu was opposed to the idea. It would just make the two of them more different, as if they already weren't a very odd couple. In the end, Charmeleon decided he would try to stay as he was.

Wishcash was confined to his little pond and the memory of how he got there became more distant by the day. But he still remembered being helped over by other pokemon so that he could be closer to the town. It was a mission he requested of one of the local rescue teams. Even if he couldn't go around the town with the same ease as those who had paws, he always got all the information about everything that was going on. Pokemon often visited Wishcash to share the latest news and listen to what others had shared before. He floated at the edge of the crystalline pond for a moment, contemplating what words he should say. Finally, Wishcash leapt out, surprising everyone.

Even Meowth and Eevee who had been playing at the pond's edge, oblivious to the conversation, stopped to stare. Wishcash crawled forward, hopping a little, with water sprinkling the grass and dripping off his scales. He smiled, sometimes actions could say in a few seconds what a thousand words could not. If a water pokemon that was primarily a swimmer could manage to get around on land; why not a psychic in the sky?

Pikachu understood and nodded, "I have a friend who can teach you."

That was how Delia ended up getting flying lessons from a Butterfree. It was difficult, but she kept focusing on flying until her psychic powers began to respond a little. She was able to unsteadily float, while Giovanni followed her shadow in the valley below.

Delia was beginning to get the hang of flying, feeling the soft breeze and the warm sun. When she allowed her guard to lower against her better judgment, Butterfree took the opportunity to slip out of Delia's grasp and fly away. "No, don't let me go!" Delia flailed in mid air, waiving her arms, legs and tail wildly as she unwillingly turned upside-down.

"You're doing great!" Butterfree encouraged as she rubbed the soreness off her short paws, Delia had a strong grip.

"I don't want to fall!" Delia continued flailing, her fear growing as she spun around randomly. "Happy thoughts, happy thoughts!" She closed her eyes tightly as she chanted in a shaky voice, hoping she could turn herself right side up and stay in the air. However, happy thoughts alone were not enough to stop her from falling. There was no shiny Clefairy to throw magical dust at her and make her fly like in the fairy tale from when she was a little girl. Delia stopped her midair spins and plummeted to the ground below.

"No!" With a high pitched alarmed shriek, Butterfree dived to rescue her student, but she had gone too far away to give Delia room to spin and get used to her flying abilities. She was not going to reach her on time.

"I got you!" Giovanni tried to position himself to catch Delia, but the sun was in his eyes. Plus from an angle, Delia wasn't falling exactly where her shadow was casted. 

Pikachu and Charmeleon, had been watching from the sidelines, while Meowth and Eevee, played. They all joined the mad dash to catch the falling Mew. In their urgent panic, they bumped into each other, tripping on each other's tails and paws, ending up in a pile. Giovanni struggled to break free, rushing out to catch Delia. She fell towards him and he reached out to her. But the second their paws touched, they were both gone.

The ground was far below, much further than it had been during the flight lessons. The pile of multicolored dots on the green valley broke apart and scattered confused. Delia had accidentally teleported Giovanni and herself to the skies above.

"Delia you have to fly!" Giovanni wasn't sure how they got up there, but they were falling fast.

"I can't!" Delia hugged him in midair, closing her eyes and wishing for a miracle.

"Yes, you can!" Giovanni tried to encourage her, "you're a Mew, you're a legend. I know you can do it; you've always surprised me before and come out on top of hard situations. You can do it now too!"

The feeling of invincibility she had experienced before returned to Delia and she was weightless surrounded by a glowing bubble with Giovanni inside it as well. The bubble slowly faded away as they got closer to the ground, landing gently. Pikachu, Charmeleon, Butterfree, Eevee and Meowth gathered around them clapping and cheering.

xoxox xox xoxox

After Delia's flying feat, she rested, while Charmeleon gave Giovanni a few pointers about battle. Giovanni was a great strategist and kept up with Charmeleon in the theory, even proving to be more resourceful than the higher evolved pokemon. "You may be a Charmander, but you're as cunning as a Charizard!" Charmeleon complimented, assuming that Giovanni had plenty of battle experience despite his level of evolution. 

Charmeleon was about to ask for a spar when the group was interrupted by a pokemon that looked quite odd to Delia and Giovanni. They had seen that pokemon in town before; he looked like a cross between an angry Growlithe and a Clefairy. The pokemon's body was pink with blue spots. His face carried a constant scowl, albeit he sounded cheerful, his voice not matching his expression at all. The pokemon, Snubbull, looked feminine, but was a male, though males were rare among his kind. "Everyone!" He called out cheerfully, "we heard you were training so we organized a little tournament. You'll come, right?"

"You bet!" Pikachu cheered, jumping with excitement.

"I think this is supposed to be for our guests," Charmeleon pointed out, albeit Pikachu was too happy to hear him.

"We'll take the challenge!" Giovanni proudly announced as if it was a battle between gangs, never mind that he had not even been able to breathe fire yet. Despite his disadvantages, he was sure he could make up for it with skill and experience. It wouldn't be the first time he played the part of a pokemon; he had battled Graveler that way in the past.

xoxox xox xoxox

The grassy fields just outside of the little town were soon filled with pokemon of all kinds. The tournament's participants were instructed to take a leaf or petal from a little handmade basket; there were two of each kind. Snubbull called everyone's attention to the center of the valley around which the pokemon had formed a circle, "the tournament is ready to begin! Everyone who is going to participate should have a leaf or petal. I will randomly select someone from the participants and the pokemon with a matching leaf or petal will be the opponent. The one who loses the battle will be eliminated until only half of the participants are left. We'll choose opponents for the next part of the tournament the same way. The first one to battle will be... one of our guests!"

"Me?" Delia looked left and right automatically, though it was pretty clear Snubbull was pointing at her. She would have to battle eventually and this would be good training, but what were her chances of winning? 

She looked at Giovanni, who appeared to be confident, "you can win!"

A few words of encouragement was all it took to make Delia become full of determination, "I'll do my best!"

The pokemon, spectators and competitors watched as Delia handed Snubbull the yellow petal she had taken from the basket. Her opponent would be Bulbasaur. The two combatants stood at the center of the field, with Snubbull standing in the sidelines as the referee. "Ready? Battle!"

Bulbasaur wasted no time, starting things off with a ranged attack: razor leaf. Delia tried to dodge the leaves, but they were too fast and she didn't know what to do to summon that bubble of energy around her she had formed before. Most of the leaves reached her, creating shallow cuts that made her rethink everything about pokemon battles. Yet somehow, she felt herself healing, as if her new small body was far stronger than her human form could ever be.

Delia focused on flying, floating slowly several feet above the ground. She could hear some of the audience chanting "vine whip, vine whip!" She didn't know if they were trying to give Bulbasaur advice or warn her, but she knew what was coming. She wasn't fast at flying yet; she still needed more practice and couldn't avoid the vine whip. 

Bulbasaur's vines wrapped around Delia, making it impossible to move her arms. She struggled to break free, but it didn't work so she focused on flying and began to lift the surprised Bulbasaur off the ground. Her tail was free so she lifted it and brought it down in a powerful iron tail. The end of her tail collided harshly with Bulbasaur's head, making the vine whips go limp as the grass pokemon was knocked out.

The crowd cheered and clapped as Snubbull announced Delia to be the first round's winner. For a few minutes she was surrounded by a sea of pokemon congratulating her. Then the beginning of the second round was announced and everyone returned to the sidelines. There was a total of sixteen participants in the tournament, so there were eight rounds in the first part. 

There would be a small break between the rounds and Snubbull knew everyone was curious to see the newcomers' battle. His strategy to keep the audience interested was to have their guests' matches at the beginning and end of each part of the tournament. Delia had come out victorious in the first round, moving on to the next part of the tournament along with Charmeleon, Pikachu and Butterfree, the same she had been training with before. They were joined in the victorious circle by Tentacruel, Golem and Blastoise.

It was the eight round and Giovanni's turn to battle against a grass pokemon which was not common in Kanto. The referee had called him Shiftry. It was lucky that he randomly picked the same leaf as a grass type; this match was as good as won. At least that was what Giovanni thought until Snubbull announced the start of the match. Shiftry blew a strong whirlwind with his leaf fans, followed by a storm of razor leaf. Battling as a Charmander was harder than it looked, Giovanni was so small and light he was almost blown away. The razor leaf attack collided with him continuously alternating with whirlwind as he sunk his small claws on the ground and approached his opponent with difficulty.

He could hear Delia telling him to use flame thrower, but nothing came out when he tried to summon the flames. "Hit him with your tail, you can do it!" Delia cheered. 

If Giovanni could use the flame on his tail to attack, then his type advantage would help him win. The problem was that Shiftry's wind was so strong, his flame was almost out. Even so, there was no way he would let himself lose, especially not against a grass type. He couldn't breathe fire, but his little claws would just have to be enough. Full of unbreakable determination he moved forward against the wind. Shiftry attempted to back away, throwing a multitude of razor leaves at Giovanni, who dashed forward in spite of that and attacked. He scratched Shiftry until the grass pokemon fell unconscious.

The crowd cheered, once again invading the designated battle arena to congratulate the winner. Minutes later, the excitement calmed down and the spectators dissipated, going off to buy some berries from the Kecleon brothers. By then Shiftry had woken up, though he was still a little light headed. "I lost... You are a fire type, but I thought I had more experience, you didn't need to go easy on me."

"Easy?" Giovanni had slashed away with his little claws as hard as he could. He won the match, but if it came out as going easy he didn't feel so victorious. He wondered if all Charmander felt like that when they started battling and couldn't breathe fire. 

Shiftry laughed, "relax, I'm not angry about it, just make sure you keep winning."

xoxox xox xoxox

After the break, the second part of the tournament began and Charmeleon was about to face Golem. The participants were not allowed to see what leaf or petal everyone else drew until they picked one out of the basket themselves. But after that was done, there was no need for secrecy anymore. Thus Delia knew she was set to go against Tentacruel while Giovanni's unfortunate fate was to battle Blastoise. 

While Charmeleon and Golem were battling, the tournament was interrupted when the ground began to shake. It was as if a stampede was heading their way, though in truth the ones running in their direction were only four pokemon. One of them was large enough to make the earth tremble in her mad dash.

"Coming through!" Gengar called out as he rushed past Charmeleon and Golem, interrupting their match, followed by Medicham and Ekans. 

The cause for all the shaking hurried after them, the pokemon looked like an Onix but she was made of crystal instead of stone. Giovanni stared in disbelief, the surprises never ceased in that world of rare pokemon. Onix was furious, her long body shining in the sunlight like giant diamonds as she attacked random pokemon all around.

"Onix must be stopped!" Blastoise declared and shot a powerful hydro pomp at Onix, which surprisingly had no effect. Tentacruel joined in with more water attacks, but the result was the same.

Onix wildly thrashed about, several pokemon from the tournament audience had been knocked out and would get hurt if they stayed there. "Don't hurt them!" Delia wasn't sure how it happened, but the next thing she knew the world was a whirl of colors for a split second before rearranging itself into a new image. She had teleported again, she was flying and all the other pokemon were flying with her. She wasn't physically touching any of them, but she felt as if she was protecting them in a tight embrace as they floated inside her giant protective bubble.

Only Giovanni and Onix were left on the ground below. Onix was still in a rampage and Giovanni was confused over the sudden disappearance of everyone besides Onix and himself. "Delia?"

'We're up here!' Giovanni heard Delia's voice in his mind. 'I don't know what's going on, but I think I'm getting the hang of my psychic powers. I had to protect all those defenseless pokemon and when I focused on that, this is what happened.'

Giovanni narrowly avoided being crushed by the crystal Onix, 'why did you leave me down here?' He focused on the thoughts, hoping Delia's telepathy would get the message.

It worked as Delia replied, 'because you're not a defenseless pokemon. Sorry, I guess my subconscious can't classify you as helpless even if you kind of are right now. But don't worry, I'll help, I think my powers have awakened now.' Delia focused on Onix, she was heavy and angry. The fact that she wouldn't stay still made it difficult to hold her in place, but Delia managed to do it. 'I got her, try to talk some sense into her. Give her an inspirational speech or something. You're Team Rocket's leader; you're good at stuff like this.'

'This isn't as easy as aggressive negotiations,' Giovanni mused, and Delia probably heard it. It occurred to him that if she mastered her ability to read minds enough to easily summon it at will, taking over the world would be simple. Then he remembered that returning to Team Rocket should mean being human again. He had almost forgotten he was human, he felt as if he had always been a pokemon. The thought of forgetting what he really was unnerved him, While Delia's psychic powers continued holding Onix in place, Giovanni had to allow himself a moment to picture Delia and himself as humans. 

He made the blurry image in his mind clear little by little, adding in details from his memories. The picture wasn't quite finished when Delia interrupted, 'what are you doing thinking of something like that at a time like this? Please stop picturing me as a human with Mew ears and a tail and focus on calming Onix! I promise I'll wear them for you when we go home, just don't get distracted.' Her pink face was blushing bright red. It made her wonder how she was going to deal with being able to read Giovanni's thoughts if she kept the ability after the rush of adrenaline wore off.

'That's not it!' Giovanni mentally replied, putting as much of a defensive tone as one could put into an unspoken thought. He focused on the problem at hand, not that there was much he could say to calm Onix when he didn't even know what her problem was. "Why are you attacking us?"

"Shut up you weak little pokemon, you would never understand!" Onix yelled angrily, but there was also pain in her voice.

"I'm not weak!" Weak, what else could a Charmander that didn't breathe fire be called? Determined to prove to everyone that he was strong, Giovanni took a deep breath and concentrated. Finally, he let out a massive explosion of fire in a powerful blast burn attack.

Onix cried in pain. The strong blast of fire, combined with the fatigue of fighting against Delia's psychic hold were enough to knock her out.

Delia landed gently and set down all the other pokemon, who cheered. Amidst the happiness and relief, it was decided that there would be a party to honor their heroes. Most of the pokemon went off to make preparations.

"What about the tournament?" Delia whispered to Giovanni, it would feel odd to communicate telepathically too much.

"It was cancelled, I think," Giovanni whispered back. He should have been relived not to have to face Blastoise in battle, but he was disappointed. Regardless of the odds, he wanted to try; he didn't run away from a challenge.

Blastoise approached looking quite impressed. "Well done! It seems the tournament was cancelled in favor of a celebration. I wasn't sure about battling a Charmander, but your attack was super effective where mine failed, so I know you would have been a worthy opponent. Giovanni was it? It's unusual to have a name unless it's a team name, but I see why you would be remembered. And you are called Delia, right? What you did with your psychic powers was amazing!" Perhaps the reason why everyone let the tournament go so easily in favor of a celebration was because they had a good guess of who would win, so they might as well skip to the party.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 35: Give me Holidays

After Blastoise and the others left, Giovanni, Delia, Meowth, Pikachu, Charmeleon and Eevee were the only ones left in the valley with the unconscious crystal Onix. Meowth and Eevee were playing tag, chasing each other around Onix, while Charmeleon tried to get them away from her in case she suddenly woke up in a bad mood. 

"Is she going to be okay?" Delia asked with genuine concern.

Giovanni curiously approached, if only he had a pokeball, "I wish I could catch her."

The crystal Onix suddenly opened her eyes causing Giovanni to jump back in surprise. Charmeleon picked up Eevee and Meowth, rushing back to the group. Pikachu looked ready to stubbornly hold her ground and Delia hoped for a peaceful resolution. 

Onix stared right at Giovanni, her eyes shining with joy, "do you really mean that? Oh how sweet, no pokemon has ever declared his love for me before. I was really upset about the mean things Gengar and his friends said, but I feel much better now. You're not my type, but thanks for the compliment. Sorry about being such a drama queen before. I should be going home now, good bye," Onix left with a big smile on her face.

The crystal Onix disappeared in the distance, leaving the group in open mouthed perplexity with her reaction. Pikachu finally snapped out of it and shot a deadly glare at Giovanni with sparks flying from her pink cheeks. "What was that all about? Isn't Delia your mate?"

Giovanni was shocked with the situation, he wasn't expecting the Onix to wake up and think he was flirting. "That's not it! I didn't mean it like that. I was talking as a human, as a pokemon trainer!"

Both Giovanni and Pikachu demanded in unison, "Delia, say something!"

The sheer strangeness of the situation finally got to Delia and with a big grin she voiced, "something," and burst into a fit of laughter.

"I can't believe you're so calm!" Pikachu pouted, glared and stomped her feet as the electricity around her continued building up.

"Now Pikachu, I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding," Charmeleon tried to talk some sense into his mate, who as a result turned her anger towards him.

"If it were me I would GGRRR!" Pikachu grabbed Charmeleon's neck and shook him, giving him an electric shock on contact.

"It's okay, I know everything is a misunderstanding. Let's just forget about it!" Delia urged, hoping that Pikachu would release Charmeleon before he fainted, though it seemed he was used to her temper.

"Alright, if you say so," Pikachu let Charmeleon go and took a deep breath to calm herself. "We should see what we can do to help get things ready for the party."

That night, there was a celebration in the little pokemon town with music, games and food. It went on late into the night until everyone was exhausted and they fell asleep under the stars. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia's memories were faint; she didn't remember what happened during the party beyond small glimpses. She didn't remember if that was the last day she spent in that world while time stood still in her own. When she came to, Delia immediately recognized her surroundings; she was in the Viridian City gym with Giovanni. She remembered floating in endless swirls of colors; it had to be a dream. 

Among the colors she saw a strange pokemon that looked like a green haired lady in a white ball gown. The feminine pokemon did something and Delia felt as if she was being carried away. "Do not resist, I will guide you home," the pokemon's voice was soothing. Delia closed her eyes and when she opened them again, she was at the Viridian Gym as a human.

She looked at Giovanni and at the strange glass orb, "did something happen just now?"

"You spaced out, are you okay?" Giovanni found it odd; he had never seen Delia with such a blank look before.

"I'm fine, it's nothing, I was just thinking," was it all a dream, or a hallucination? Giovanni didn't seem to remember anything and even for Delia that world inhabited only by pokemon felt like a distant dream. 

Gardevoir sealed away Giovanni's memories, sensing that it was best if he did not remember that secret world. The graceful pokemon didn't feel any alarm sensing Delia's aura, so she allowed her to keep a few faint dream-like memories.

xoxox xox xoxox

That time on October thirty-one when Delia saw Madame Boss went without incident. Delia kept expecting something to happen as a consequence of their coincidental meeting. Then November ended and nothing happened, so she decided to forget about it.

The cold of December had settled into Pallet Town with Christmas a mere three days away. Everyone expected the winter to be long that year. It had snowed on the previous night and the streets and yards were covered by the cold white carpet of winter. A chilly breeze blew and Delia wondered if she should pack up the outside tables on her little restaurant for the winter. Surely no one would want to sit outside in the cold and they would be exposed to the elements if she left them out. Maybe she could borrow some pokemon from Professor Oak to help move them the next day.

There was hardly any light left outside as the evening began to give way to the night, but the sun wasn't completely gone yet. The Pallet House, the only restaurant in Pallet Town, was closed for business; no one ever came that late anyway. Rush hour was in the morning when almost everyone in town gathered at the restaurant to have some of Delia's coffee, pancakes, muffins or toast. They talked about what they had done the previous day and what they planned to do that day. It was a small town and the little restaurant had become its unofficial social center. Midday was also busy, but most people had dinner in their own homes, though sometimes they complimented their meals with one of Delia's dishes to go. 

Ash was in the living room, standing in front of the TV occasionally mimicking the posture and movements of the trainers on the screen. They were broadcasting a rerun of the latest Indigo League championship. Ash never got tired of watching it, cheering for his favorite pokemon and pretending he was the trainer. He called out to the pokemon on TV as if they could hear him.

In a corner of the living room a medium sized Christmas tree with lush green leaves stood beautifully. It was decorated with a variety of pokemon shaped ornaments, many of which were Electrode and Voltorb. It had a Staryu on top with the jewel on its center blinking on and off at a steady rhythm, along with the multicolored lights all over the tree.

Ash cheered as the speedy Jolteon on TV defeated an Arcanine. One day he would be a pokemon trainer and his pokemon would be even more amazing. Delia smiled watching her five year old son so excited about the pokemon battle, despite having watched it so many times. He probably had each move of every round memorized.

Delia heard the sound of an approaching car, a rarity in Pallet Town. Looking out the window, she saw a black limousine parked next to the leafless tree in front of her house. For a split second her heart skipped a beat and she pictured a happy Christmas reunion. She thought she had stopped imagining such things but she couldn't help it but to wish for a miracle. Even if deep down she knew Giovanni wasn't coming and perhaps it was best that way.

The driver got out of the limousine, his black suit devoid of a red R. He hurried to open the door, extending his hand and bowing as if escorting a queen. A woman's hand came out of the limousine; her nails were long and crimson. She elegantly exited the vehicle, her long hair cascading in dark waves down her back, contrasting with her red coat. Her makeup was perfect and not a single hair was out of place or even gray. Madame Boss looked somehow younger than the last time Delia saw her, probably an effect of aesthetic science.

Madame walked with the elegance of a queen. She left the driver behind to wait as she made her way towards one of the outdoor tables of the little restaurant attached to a tiny house. She sat down, not bothered by the chilly breeze and waited regal and silent. Madame was certain that her presence was known and could not be ignored for long.

Delia didn't know what to do; she couldn't leave Madame Boss outside waiting. Plus she really wanted to know why Madame was there. What if she asked about Ash? Delia glanced at the TV, it was showing the award ceremony of the Indigo League. What if Ash curiously wondered out to see who the late customer was after the show was over? What if Madame said too much? 

Delia took a deep breath, threw on her cream colored coat and turned the outdoor lights on before heading outside. The illumination of the light bulb in the wall-less roof over the outdoor tables was dim. But combined with the scarce snow flakes that had began to fall in the background, the scene looked like it came from a postcard. It didn't match the tense atmosphere. At least it was tense for Delia; Madame on the other hand looked rather amused.

Delia approached the table were Madame sat, calm and majestic. She sat down opposite to the older woman and waited for her to speak. "Aren't you going to say anything?" Madame's amusement didn't waver.

"Does Giovanni know you're here?" Delia finally gave in and asked. She immediately mentally scolded herself for asking about him so soon and so directly. Her puzzlement and curiosity had been obvious, accompanied by a hint of hope.

Madame shook her head, "brat boy is busy. I haven't spoken to him in years, but I hear he's doing alright. I must say, I was surprised to see you last October. Were those boys your children?"

"No, they were a friend's children. I was just taking them to get candy," Delia's reply was only half true, but she tried to sound natural. Anyone else might have believed her, but Madame was better informed.

"Are you sure? My sources tell me you have a son. Let me guess, the Charmander, right?" Madame reached into her coat pocket and pulled out an old picture.

At first glance Delia almost thought the picture was of Ash, but it couldn't have been him. The little boy in the image was dressed as a Charmander, but he was holding a classic pumpkin shaped basket. He smiled happily at the camera with a glow of mischief in his eyes. "Is this Giovanni?"

"At the age of three," Madame confirmed, entertained by Delia's expression of amazement. "He was cute, wasn't he? You can keep that picture if you want."

Delia was tempted to refuse, but she could not. Even if Madame tried to take the picture from her hand, Delia knew she wouldn't be able to let it go. "Thank you, but I'm sure this isn't the reason why you came here." The tension had subsided considerably, but Delia still felt uncertain.

Madame went to the point; there was no use in continuing with the small talk, "since I haven't been communicating with brat boy, I didn't know what was happening in his life. When I saw you in Saffron City last October with those boys, I knew something interesting must have happened. To be honest I didn't expect your relationship to last, so seeing you so far away from Viridian City on your own was not surprising. It was that boy dressed as a Charmander that caught my attention. He reminded me too much of my little brat boy, that look in his eyes. I bet he'll be quite temperamental and cunning, unless you manage to keep his Roketto genes under control. Good luck with that," Madame laughed.

Delia remained silent and listened as Madame continued, "to put it simply I became curious and did some research. My sources told me that brat boy had no heir. No one knew anything about him having any children at all. It made everything even more interesting and I continued doing research. I heard you came to Pallet Town around six years ago, which means that if you were pregnant then, the child would be about five and a half by now." She caught the flicker of uncertainty in Delia's face. Madame's expression became similar to Giovanni's cocky grin when he knew he would inevitably win a battle, though her eyes were carefree and relaxed instead of focused and plotting. "That is, assuming he counts halves," she laughed again, her voice ringing clear with amusement and no perceivable malice. "Brat boy would always correct me if I said he was five, grumbling that he was five and a half."

"Was it just curiosity?" Delia inquired, it might seem strange to investigate and not really use the information. Yet Madame appeared to be the type of person to go out of her way just to satisfy a whim.

"You're not confirming or denying anything anymore?" Madame leaned back on the chair and folded her hands on the table, long fingers intertwined. "I suppose there's no use in denying the truth, is there?" Her breath was visible past her crimson lipstick. The temperature had continued to drop as the sun disappeared. "I have no intentions of interfering. Maybe if brat boy would listen to me I would tell him, but if he wants to pretend I don't exist, all I can do is return the favor."

Delia let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding until she saw it. She finally noticed just how cold it had become. "Do you want to come inside?"

"That won't be necessary, I'm leaving soon. I simply wanted to satisfy my curiosity that's all," Delia wasn't sure if she should be relieved or disappointed at Madame's words. All she knew was that the older woman had read her face like a book.

Delia didn't want Ash to be involved with the Roketto family and their dangerous activities. However, Madame was supposedly retired, even if Delia doubted she had retired completely. Besides, regardless of what they had done, what they were doing and what they were planning to do, Giovanni was still Ash's father and Madame was still his grandmother. Delia would not take the first step to go back to Giovanni, but if he returned to her, she knew she wouldn't be able to turn him down.

"I almost forgot," Madame's voice woke Delia from her thoughts before she could resolve her inner conflict. "My spy, I mean, my friend who happens to be a high ranked member of Team Rocket, is out on an important mission overseas. She doesn't know when she will return. Since she won't be there to make snowgasboard for her daughter, she called and asked me to send something in her stead for Christmas." 

Delia wasn't even sure what kind of mission it could be, but listened to Madame. She paid close attention to the part about a spy, noticing the contradiction from when Madame mentioned ignoring Giovanni. Nevertheless, Delia was determined not to interfere. She wouldn't run to call Giovanni and reveal the situation immediately as she would have done when she still lived with him. If Madame wanted to annoy Giovanni, she would have to leave her and Ash out of it.

"I never did like the taste of those supermarket gingerbread cookies," Madame continued, casual and relaxed. "I heard you're a good cook, are you a good baker too?"

Delia wanted to ask about the spy, but she remained silent, she wasn't getting involved so she didn't need to know. She wondered if it was the same person mentioned on the suspicious letter Madame had been writing in the park last October, Miyamoto. "I baked some cookies earlier this afternoon, you can have them." Delia got up and started walking towards the door. She stopped and looked back at Madame. It didn't look like she had any intentions of following Delia inside even if she was invited.

The rebroadcast of the Indigo League award ceremony had ended and Ash went to see what his mother was doing in the kitchen. "Can I have a cookie?" Ash gave her his sweetest smile, "please?"

"Just one, these are for a customer," Delia managed to sound natural as she handed Ash a gingerbread Jinx. She finished filling the shiny golden cardboard box adorned with pictures of red and green pokeballs with cookies. She had baked plenty of cookies, so she packed two identical boxes full of gingerbread pokemon. Leaving Ash standing in the kitchen with a now headless Jinx cookie, Delia headed out to give Madame the boxes.

Madame sat unfazed by the cold, perfectly still like a painting. Delia gave her both boxes full of cookies, "for your friend's daughter and for you."

"Very nice, and how much do these lovely boxes of cookies sell for?" Madame inquired with the same calm and amusement she had throughout the entire conversation.

"They're gifts, you don't need to pay me, please take them," Delia insisted. She had began to calm down a little, though the overall situation still made her thoughts race.

"How generous," Madame took a small Rapidash Christmas tree decoration from her red coat's pocket and handed it to Delia. "It's a little old, but brat boy used to like it when he was small. He wanted to catch a pokemon like that and no one could convince him it didn't exist." The Rapidash ornament, unlike the real pokemon, had feathery wings. "I should really be on my way now," Madame picked up the boxes and walked a few steps. Her driver rushed over to meet her, carrying the boxes for her.

Delia held the little Rapidash as a precious treasure. She also had the Charmander picture hidden in her pocket. She would save it and maybe one day show it to Ash, when he was ready. "Thank you," Madame looked back for a moment, sensing the sincerity in Delia's voice. The younger woman smiled, "merry Christmas."

xoxox xox xoxox

After Madame was gone, Delia went back inside and found Ash sitting at the foot of the Christmas tree in the living room. He was enchanted by the blinking lights. "Where should we put this one?" She gave him the winged Rapidash and Ash's face brightened.

"Let's put it up there," he pointed to a branch at the very top of the tree near the Staryu at the peak. Delia picked up her son so he could reach the branch and put the little Rapidash on it. He was small for a five year old and he wouldn't catch up to Gary in height until they were nine. "I'm going to catch a Rapidash with wings, just like that one," Ash proudly declared and Delia couldn't help it but to smile. 

Outside, the light snowflakes had turned to big portions of snow falling from the skies. The temperature had continued to drop, but somehow, the small house felt a little warmer.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. In the games, regardless of what starter pokemon you choose, the rival picks the one with the type advantage. That's why Ash was a Charmander and Gary a Squirtle, plus Gary has a Blastoise in the anime. The scene where little Ash and Gary start glaring then running is a reference to the start of Pikachu and Raichu's race in Pikachu's Vacation. Miyamoto is Jessie's mother. I realize that some pokemon are supposed to be genderless, but I'm bending the rules and saying all the pokemon in this story have a gender. The part about pokemon being carefree is based on the episode where Ash is transformed into a Pikachu. I'm using some creative license on some of the attacks, but nothing bigger than the representations seen in the anime.


	9. Part 9

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 36: Give me Innocence

Standing in front of the Viridian Gym, Delia made herself focus on the present. She had no more time to get lost in her memories. Her son was all grown up and he was expecting her to watch him participate in the Viridian City pokemon battle tournament, she wanted to be there. She wondered if she was unconsciously setting up an escape route for herself. If she had somewhere to be, she wouldn't be able to talk to Giovanni for long, she wouldn't be able to explain things as she should. That was, if he even spoke to her. She thought about putting it off for another day, but if she did that, a day might turn into a year and a year into a decade. Maybe deep down she didn't want real closure.

Delia made her way inside the Viridian Gym; it was not the same building she had lived in before. The underground facilities survived, but the structure above the surface was destroyed a long time ago. The glass doors opened for her automatically, leading her into a little lobby reminiscent of the generic design of Pokemon Center lobbies. The furniture was better than in Pokemon Centers, yet the room didn't seem special in the least, as if the building hid no secrets. Her footsteps echoed on the white tiles as she made her way to another set of glass doors on the opposite side of the lobby; those doors did not open. She could see the gym's spacious battle arena on the other side with two opposing platforms, it was dark and deserted.

"The gym leader isn't battling today, because of the tournament," a young man came through the automatic double doors at the entrance. He made his way towards a single wooden door in a corner of the lobby, between two fake potted plants with forest green plastic leaves. He took a set of keys from his pocket, a mix of silver and copper with a leaf shaped keychain similar to the Earth Badge that could be won at the gym. 

The young man was wearing blue jeans and a gray tshirt, he had a few pokeballs attached to his belt. He had no red R anywhere, but Delia guessed right away he must be from Team Rocket. Why else would he be going into the gym with a large set of keys so casually? She could clearly picture him in the black uniform with a red R. The image seemed to fit him perfectly, with that look in his eyes as if he knew more than he let on. He was more focused on finding a specific key among the dozen in the ring than on the unknown lady until she spoke a familiar name, "Luke?" He immediately looked up as if searching for something in her face that looked familiar, "no, you can't be, you're too young to be him," Delia realized.

The young man had the same red hair and blue eyes Luke had, though his haircut was slightly different. His face was an almost exact copy, but unlike Luke, he wasn't tanned. Although Luke's tan was not something he was born with, but rather a color he acquired due to his love for the beach, otherwise he would have looked just like this man. "You're that lady from the picture," he paused, searching for a name in his memories, "Delia?"

"You know me?" This came as a big surprise to Delia, even if the man was too similar to Luke not to be a relative.

"You really are Delia?" He was visibly shocked, "wow, talk about unexpected surprises. My name's Comet, my father, Luke, told me about you and all the things that happened in Team Rocket a long time ago. He used to tell me the story of how Team Rocket defeated the Tempest Gang all the time when I was little. He has a picture of the original Team Rocket together; he told me all about his adventures with them!"

The tension of Delia's mission melted away and she allowed herself this little deviation. She couldn't help it but to smile upon hearing the young man's name, leave it to Luke to name his son something like that. "How is Luke, is he alright? I heard from him many years ago and he was going on some dangerous missions."

"Dad's fine," Comet confirmed, "he's in Johto now, his missions aren't quite as dangerous anymore. He's well known in Team Rocket for his skill in training pokemon. He trains pokemon that belong to other members too, to help the team improve." It seemed that after several years of risking his life, Luke finally managed to earn a true second chance. Delia couldn't help it but to wonder how much Luke really had to do for that.

She thought she understood the choice of keeping Luke around. Perhaps it was more than the benefits of a diligent worker, Luke was a remnant of a distant past. Yet there had to be more to it. "I'm really happy that he's alright." Almost unconsciously they had both sat down on the black leather chairs of the lobby, more elegant and comfortable than what they usually had in Pokemon Centers. "Do you know Binks?"

"Yes, I used to see him often when I was little, but I hardly remember him or anything about my early childhood," Comet replied sadly. "Binks passed away a long time ago. He was a scientist working on New Island, I heard he occasionally had some health problems," schizophrenia, Comet didn't specify. "For the most part he did alright as long as he was busy. He was working with some big shot scientist last thing I heard, Fuji or something like that. There was an accident and something exploded in the lab," Comet left it at that, but it was clear that explosion must have been the end of Binks as far as he knew. "Oh man, I have a really big mouth, I shouldn't be saying so much. Dad used to talk about the old Team Rocket all the time so it's almost like I know you. You'll keep this all a secret, right?"

"Of course," Delia assured, "I don't want you to get into trouble or anything." She held back her curiosity, feeling that it wasn't her place to ask, she didn't want to make Comet feel sad or uncomfortable. She had left long ago, to pick up the pieces of her existence and form a new life.

"Good, I don't want the Boss to get mad at me. I heard it really sucks when he gets mad at someone," Comet laughed with the same carefree attitude that Luke had in the old days. He had probably never gotten in Giovanni's bad side if he could still act so relaxed when speaking of the possibility. Comet had grown up in Team Rocket and gotten used to how things worked at a young age. Yet he had the same good heart as Luke, despite being a loyal Rocket. He could never pass for a real villain; he was just a carefree adventurer like his father.

Comet and Luke were really a lot alike, so much that Delia had no guess about who Comet's mother was. She wanted to ask, but wondered if she should. His mother was probably in Team Rocket; Luke wouldn't have a chance to meet anyone outside of the team if Giovanni had kept him under watch during the time of his dangerous missions. Maybe she was no longer among the living. Out of the five people Delia had met that night many years ago in Cerulean City, only Giovanni and Luke still lived as far as she knew. She wondered how many of the other people she used to know were still there. Archer, Ariana, Proton, Petrel, Ben... what had become of them?

"Do you think I could talk to Giovanni?" So many years had passed that the voice of reason in Delia's head told her it was useless to talk to him. They lived their own lives away from each other. The past was apparently long since left behind, but Delia never truly buried it. She only pushed it to the back of her mind where it waited to resurface at a later date.

Comet looked puzzled; he didn't know what business Delia could have with the boss after so many years. He never thought he would actually meet her. "I could ask if he has a few minutes. The boss has to battle the winner of the tournament today, but that won't be for a while. He might have to give a speech when the tournament starts though."

The small wooden door on the corner of the lobby suddenly opened and there stood a blond woman, a few years older than Comet. She was wearing an outfit similar to nurse Joy, save for the dress being mint green instead of pale pink. "Comet, what are you doing sitting there? I told you to hurry up with the keys when I called. Too many people showed up for the tournament, so they're battling as soon as they sign up to narrow them down. That means that the Pokemon Center is getting plenty of customers and the facilities we set up to treat pokemon at city hall might need to open soon. I need to get some supplies in there, the mayor won't get any votes out of this if his medical staff is lacking resources," she scolded impatiently. 

"Oops, sorry Laiki, I just got a bit distracted," Comet smiled sheepishly, exactly like Luke. The mayor of Viridian City had been continuously reelected for years. He had a few important deals with Giovanni, thus it was in Team Rocket's best interest to make sure he stayed in city hall.

"Sorry to have caused a delay," Delia apologized. She noticed that the blond nurse, probably also a member of Team Rocket, was looking at her curiously.

"Hey, isn't this the boss' ex from way long ago?" Laiki asked Comet. Her tone was as if Delia wasn't even there to hear. She pointed at Delia, as if pointing at a picture.

"Is that how everyone here knows me?" Delia didn't expect anyone to recognize her at all.

"Not really," Comet explained, "I know you because of my father and Laiki knows you because she's the resident gossip expert. She must know every detail of everyone's life," he grinned at the pouting nurse. 

"You're his ex, for real? I was just kidding about that! And what did you say about a gossip expert? You better shut it, Comet. I know her because my brother, Binks, told me all about the beginnings of Team Rocket," the way they interacted hinted that they had known each other for a long time. Laiki grinned curiously at Delia. "There are only a handful of people in Team Rocket who would know who you are. You're just lucky some of them work here at the gym. Given that, I take it you haven't been around here or else we would have ran into each other sooner. Anyway, my name is Laiki and I'm in charge of keeping the pokemon alive around here. The boss is busy today because of the tournament. I would feel bad if you came all this way to be ignored, so why don't we go to a nice little cafe and talk?"

"Laiki!" Now it was Comet's turn to scold her, "she's not here to share all the secrets of her life with you. Besides, don't you need to set things up at city hall?" He tossed her the keys which she caught. "Just get some grunts to help carry the boxes; I'm taking Delia to see the boss."

Laiki pouted, clearly upset at being excluded, but she knew she had her duties to perform. "Alright, fine, but you better give me the details later. I can't believe I'll miss this. It's like a cheesy soap opera coming true and I won't be there to watch it unfold. I hope the boss doesn't get mad at you for this. If he kicks both of you out without having a chance to talk it's going to be too anti-climatic." Complaining about missing out on the fun, Laiki disappeared through the same door she arrived from, leaving it unlocked.

"Is it really alright for you to take me to Giovanni?" Delia didn't want to get Luke's son into trouble. She was beginning to think more and more about what Giovanni would say if he saw her. Maybe he would just tell her to leave. 

"I don't think it'll be like a soap opera," Comet assured. "That's just what Laiki hopes because she really likes them. She always keeps saying that it's never too late to be involved in a juicy scandal. She's always been like that and I don't think she'll ever change."

"Laiki is very different from Binks..." they were practically polar opposites, Delia mused. Laiki was straight forward and confident, while Binks had been shy. They had the same shade of pale blond hair, though Laiki's eyes were a deep green different from Binks' warm brown.

"That's what everyone who ever met them both would say," Comet agreed as he led the way through the little door on the side of the lobby. He made sure to lock it behind them. There was a maze of halls beyond the door, one of them leading to an elevator. The elevator took them to the third and final floor of the redesigned gym.

The atmosphere in the third floor was fancier than in the floors below, with smooth marble flooring and polished black wood doors. Comet stopped in front of one of the doors. It was further apart from the others as the rest, hinting that the room was larger. Delia didn't know if the air-conditioner was colder or if she was feeling colder. 

There was something very unfamiliar about that place. It was true that the Viridian Gym was different, having been rebuilt a little over a decade after she left. Delia had never set foot inside the new gym, but that wasn't what felt so unfamiliar about it. It wasn't about the building; it was being in the same place as Giovanni. She remembered their past, but she had forgotten what his presence felt like. She knew he would change in time. The added unfamiliarity of suppressed yet eternally present feelings added to the uncertainty in the atmosphere.

Comet retrieved a small device from his pocket; it was a shiny black cell phone with a red R on top. It was smaller than the cell phone Delia used to have when she was in Team Rocket, and much more flat, about half an inch thick when it was folded. The device held a tiny keyboard instead of just digits, which she would imagine must be a little uncomfortable to use due to its miniature size. Comet didn't type anything though, instead he pressed a button then spoke to the little cell phone, "Boss, if you have a minute, Delia is here to see you."

There was a short silence and Delia assumed Comet had sent a voice message, "should you really say it so directly? I would be shocked if someone suddenly told me Giovanni came to see me." It was something she imagined many times after she went to Pallet Town. Then as Ash grew, she stopped thinking about it and focused on her son. Later, when Ash started his pokemon journey and her life fell into a predictable routine, thoughts of the past surfaced again.

"I guess that would explain the silence," Comet examined the tiny screen; the call had gone through and was active, he was sure of it.

"You mean that wasn't just a message?" Delia tried to picture Giovanni's face upon hearing the news followed by her voice in the background. Would he look surprised, or would he be able to keep a neutral expression as he used to do in most situations? Would he look indifferent or disbelieving? Delia found that she couldn't get a clear image.

"Let her in," after the pause, Giovanni's voice finally came from the little cell phone revealing that it had been set to speaker phone.

Comet quietly opened the door, closing it after Delia was inside and remaining outside. He felt as if Laiki was rubbing off on him, standing there outside the office as if it was of any use. The office was sound proof and sound locked. Even if Laiki was there to put her ear to the door, she wouldn't hear anything. Giving the closed door one last glance, Comet walked away. He was supposed to be on break after completing a successful mission, but he ended up helping set things up for the tournament, moving boxes of supplies here and there. 

The random chores reminded Comet of the past. He had been an errand boy for Team Rocket since he was around seven, though he didn't remember much before that. Occasionally, his father would report to the Kanto headquarters in Viridian City and take him along. That was how he met Laiki when she was a rookie pokemon nurse, he had heard about her from Binks before. She treated Team Rocket's pokemon, as well as stolen pokemon that were left in bad shape as a result.

"Good luck," Comet whispered, though there was no one there to hear him. He would tell his father about the chance meeting. He was sure Delia wanted to ask more about him and their friends from the past, but she must have felt she shouldn't. Depending on how things went in the office, maybe Giovanni wouldn't mind too much if Delia took some time to catch up with Luke and the other long time members of Team Rocket she used to know.

Giovanni could always know where Luke went. The tracking chip he carried was never removed even after his long sequence of suicidal missions was successfully completed and his debt was paid. Those missions were not his only payment though. Luke had a small chip attached to his ribcage over his heart; it was a detail that Comet was unaware of. If Luke died during a mission it would be risky to abandon the body and the sooner it was recovered the better. The chip would not only serve as a beacon for Team Rocket's tracking system, but it would detect his heartbeats, thus confirming that he still lived. It also made it impossible to remove it without suspicion, since it had to be close to the heart in order to continuously detect his heartbeats.

A Meowth with several scars and a charm that was cut to a sharp point ran up to Comet and jumped on his shoulder. Her appearance was not his doing, the Meowth was already like that when he got her and it was not due to her previous trainer either. It was because of her life as a wild street pokemon. He received the pokemon from a friend, though he still considered the Meowth to be hers, or perhaps more so a wild pokemon, despite having a pokeball. Comet's first pokemon was a Magikarp his father let him keep as a pet despite being too young to be a legal pokemon trainer. That Magikarp eventually evolved into a strong Gyarados. 

Comet petted the Meowth, "where did you run off to? C'mon, we better help keep Laiki's improvised infirmary at city hall well supplied or she'll bite my head off about it later."

xoxox xox xoxox

After so many years had passed, when Giovanni and Delia saw each other again, it almost felt as if they were meeting for the first time. Delia thought she might change her mind about all the things she wanted to say when she finally came face to face with Giovanni, but it was all the opposite. She had to stop herself from shouting the truth too fast and directly without any form of preparation for him. 

She had promised Ash she would finally give him the answers he deserved, the things that happened in the past were not his fault and he shouldn't live without knowing of his origin because of it. As for Giovanni, she felt no anger or resentment towards him. Even so she expected to be at least a little upset when she saw him again, but she wasn't.

"Why did you come here?" Giovanni finally broke the silence. At that point he had no more anger or reproach left for her sudden departure so many years ago, though he still kept a strong hidden bitterness. He was puzzled as to why she would suddenly show up.

"I came to talk to you," Delia replied softly, she noticed Persian looking at her curiously. Persian approached and she petted him gently, kneeling beside the pokemon. "Look at how much you've grown and you're fully evolved too!" Delia somehow knew he was the same pokemon from long ago; the little Meowth Giovanni had helped out of the egg she took care of.

Giovanni wouldn't put it past Delia to suddenly show up just to talk. It was something she would do and she didn't seem like the kind of person to change too much over the years. Although he too had forgotten what it was like to be around her, he noticed there was a look of purpose in her eyes. That was his first clue that this wasn't simply a casual visit out of nowhere. "You have something to say, don't you?" He had gone around his large desk, now standing right in front of her, not bothering to hide his curiosity and puzzlement.

Delia took a deep breath, "yes, a lot," she still felt the irresistible need to tell him the whole truth, but tried to find a way to properly phrase it. They sat down on a small couch that was in the corner of the office where Persian often napped while Giovanni was working. 

Delia looked conflicted, which puzzled Giovanni further. What could she possibly have to say after so many years that was so important? She thought about starting out slowly, but she was starting to feel his impatience. She was becoming used to his presence again. She would have to cut to the chase, but she would do it step by step. "Do you remember that letter I wrote when I left?"

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 37: Give me Enjoyment

Ash tapped his foot impatiently, the line of people was endless and it was barely moving. How long did it take to fill up an entry form and go inside the arena? Brock had gone off to chase girls a while ago and he still had not returned, not that he was missing anything. The sun was bright and the summer heat could really be felt, the crowds only made it worse. 

Eventually the line moved until it was Ash's turn to fill up an entry form. The form was quite simple, it only asked for his name, postal address and a phone number or email address. 

"You're not from Viridian City?" The green haired woman at the desk took Ash's entry form and added it to a pile. She kept the forms on two separate groups consisting of those from Viridian City and those from any other place. She didn't bother asking him for ID. Participants could call themselves whatever they wanted, some even entered with the funniest nicknames. If that young man wanted to call himself Ash Ketchum, he could.

"I'm not from this city, but the tournament is supposed to be open to everyone, right?" Ash had not really read the rules. He just saw the prize money, location, date and time; that was all he needed to know. It was after years of attending pokemon tournaments that he learned to take care of making sure he got those details right, instead of simply rushing over to the nearest gathering of trainers as soon as he heard rumors of a tournament. He learned his lesson after being late to an important competition and not being allowed to battle. 

It was obvious that not everyone who was entering the tournament was from Viridian City. The crowd was simply too large for a tournament that only included the locals, even if the city had a high population. 

Viridian City had expanded greatly in the past few years, though there was still plenty of empty space between it and Pallet Town. It was easier to see the Viridian forest from the window in Ash's room at Delia's house. In most cases, expansions like those came with deforestation, but the mayor took care of making sure the forest surrounding the city expanded along with it. It was a project that was started years ago by the mayor, in anticipation of the expected growth of the population. 

As part of the project, many trees were planted along the forest borders extending it. Not only young trees were planted, those were few in comparison to the large trees that were transported there and replanted. Most of the trees originated from the unpopulated area north-east of Viridian City, before reaching Cerulean City. It was as if the city wanted to stay hidden behind the barrier of the forest and the pokemon that lived in it.

"Of course you can enter," the green haired woman confirmed, her brown eyes neutral. She was wearing a lime green business suit. The mayor picked out the color green to be used by those working with the public at the tournament, saying something about 'forest pride.' The bright color of her clothes was nothing like the dark, neutral green of her hair and she didn't like it. She also thought the oversized circular pin with the mayor's face on it was rather unpleasant. It was almost as ridiculous as the leaf shaped label displaying her name, Wendy.

Wendy looked at the young man's companion, a red haired woman, "do you need a form too?" She held one out, but the redhead didn't take it.

"No thanks," Misty replied with a polite smile, "I'm just here to watch."

"Aw, c'mon Misty, you should enter. We'll have double the chances of winning if you do," Ash encouraged her without thinking too much of his words. He had forgotten Misty's earlier reaction to when they talked. She was upset that he seemed to be after the cash prize instead of after the challenge as he usually was. Furthermore, if Misty won, that would also throw Ash's plans out the window. He needed to get his hands on that prize money himself if he was going to use it to get Misty a nicer engagement ring.

Misty's earlier feelings of disappointment resurfaced. She saw in Ash's eyes that he was still hiding something, but she had no clue what. "No, thanks," she voiced more firmly and without a smile.

Ash was not very good at telling when people were upset and more so why they were upset. He was creative, skilled and full of stubborn determination, yet being observant was a characteristic that rarely surfaced outside of battle. He assumed the long wait and the annoying summer heat, along with the noisy crowds were getting to Misty. He knew of no reason why she would be upset. He concluded that she was just cranky and that it wasn't his fault.

"We're having a preliminary elimination round because so many people showed up. Only the best fifty will move on to the tournament. You can think of this as the very beginning of the tournament if you wish. This area is just for the trainers, members of the audience should go through the front entrance. I'm sure the stadium is full by now, good luck finding a seat." Wendy's voice was neutral, bored and with a well hidden hint of annoyance. In contrast, she smiled radiantly; it made the difference between her tone and expression stand out more.

"I guess I'll see you later Misty," Ash was as carefree as ever and excited that he would battle right away.

Misty pouted as she used to do back when Ash was eleven and too young and naive to realize he had upset her. She concluded that some things never changed, then walked away.

"Make sure to cheer for me!" Ash called out as Misty stomped her way past the crowd, "crowds and hot weather really get Misty all temperamental, don't they?" Ash commented to Pikachu, who was more aware of the situation than his trainer.

Ash went inside the battle area in the little stadium. It wasn't as grand as the Indigo Plateau and no where near as large, but it served its purpose. The Viridian stadium was used as a pokemon battle arena, a concert stage, a basketball court or whatever the citizens felt like doing with it. The walls below the climbing rows of crowded benches were filled with windows and posters. The posters reminded everyone thanks to who the new local stadium was constructed, the mayor.

Similar events were held at the Viridian Gym in the past, before the stadium was built. But even after its renovations that included a larger battle arena, it was not constructed to hold too many spectators comfortably. As a result, most people used to gather at the park, where a big screen was set up showing the events taking place at the gym. It was fun, but it wasn't as exciting as when the crowd's cheers could actually be heard by the trainers.

The referee was a man wearing dark green pants and a white and lime green shirt with vertical stripes. He had light brown hair and green eyes in a different shade, intermediary between the shades of green in his pants and shirt. His name was Jango and he used to be an anchorman on the morning news years ago. 

He had a younger sister named Ameda, who was a field reporter back when he was still an anchor. Rumors said that she got close to the producer and ultimately stole her brother's position. Thus she replaced him as the main anchor of the morning news. Other rumors theorized that Jango was fired due to his less than flattering remarks about Rune Antilles, the Viridian City mayor. Those remarks addressed Antilles' alleged involvement with the mafia. 

To make it worse, Jango's comments were ill-timed as it was dangerously close to elections. Not long after his televised offense, Jango left the news and appeared in many events sponsored by the Viridian City mayor as part of his re-election campaign. Some said it was because the mafia threatened him into retracting from his comments and helping the mayor to prove his trust to the public. 

After the mayor's reputation was saved, Jango knew he wouldn't be well received at the news station again. He had departed with a sudden resignation, in no liberty to give further explanations. He decided to make a career out of the job he did while repaying his 'debt'. There were many rumors in Viridian City but no one knew for sure if any of them were true, except maybe Laiki. She made everyone's business her own.

The preliminary battles were one on one. Ash chouse Pikachu and his opponent sent out a Goldeen. As Jango announced the start of the battle, Ash expected the Goldeen to be extraordinary beyond appearances. It reminded him of a surprisingly strong Bellsprout he faced long ago in the Indigo League championship. However, the water pokemon merely flopped around. Her trainer was a rather inexperienced looking teenage boy with dirty blond hair and yellow-green eyes. He had already commanded the Goldeen to use horn attack, but she ignored him.

"Be careful Pikachu," Ash whispered as he scrutinized the Goldeen. He couldn't see what was so special about her. 

"Pika," Pikachu nodded, sharing Ash's focus.

Over his years as a pokemon trainer, Ash developed accurate senses to predict his opponents' moves. He could usually assert how powerful a pokemon really was, but with that Goldeen he drew a blank. His old self resurfaced and his patience was tested. His first move would be head on and if it brought consequences, he would make up for it afterwards. At least he would know what he was up against. Even if Goldeen let out a monstrosity of a counter attack, Ash trusted Pikachu to be strong and fast enough to deal with it. Then he could use that information to think of a good strategy, "Pikachu, thundershock!"

Sparks flew from Pikachu's red cheeks as the yellow electric pokemon released a powerful attack, "pikachu!" The attack hit Goldeen easily, instantly knocking her out. Even then, Pikachu stayed on his guard, as did Ash.

"Goldeen is unable to battle, Pikachu is the winner!" Jango announced.

"Return," the boy called Goldeen back into her pokeball and walked away grumbling about weak pokemon. After only a few steps he turned back and addressed Ash, "hey Ash-fan! You want this?"

"Huh?" Ash was astonished, not only by his beyond easy win, but by the boy's question and his way to refer to him as Ash-fan.

"This pokemon, do you want it?" The boy asked again, "I don't have time for a pet. I should have known a pokemon that gets caught so easily with a fishing rod wouldn't be strong. I only caught it for the tournament. I guess I was hoping to get my hands on the cash by a lucky twist of fate. I should have known it was impossible." He tossed the pokeball at Ash, "you keep it, set it free if you don't want it, I'm out of here. There are some pretty good food stalls out there I want to check out."

The boy started walking away so quickly that Ash barely had time to call out, "thanks for the Goldeen," before he disappeared into the crowd outside. Ash was still confused by the situation, but then thought he should have guessed not all those who entered the tournament would be pokemon trainers. With a cash prize on the line, just about anyone would feel motivated to enter; even if they had to catch a pokemon last minute. People were allowed to enter as long as they had at least one pokemon. The rules were tolerant since it wasn't an official Pokemon League tournament.

"That's all for now, you can go to the waiting room. If the place keeps filling up, we might have to extend the preliminary round. You can rest for now," Jango pointed towards a door connected to the arena. It was open and Ash could see a lobby inside with predominant shades of green. The trainers who had gone past the preliminary rounds were inside.

"Can I battle more?" Ash inquired hopefully, he didn't even get a warm up out of his last battle. Maybe next time he would battle a real trainer.

"Suit yourself, but are you sure you want to tire out your pokemon? Unless you have enough to switch your entire team, it's not against the rules to do that between battles." Jango looked at the Pikachu, who appeared to be as energetic as he could get. "Wait a minute I know who you are. You won the Indigo League championship the year before last. I saw it on TV; you're the real Ash! Where were you last year?"

"Yeah, it's me, last year I... um... overslept," Ash sheepishly replied, "I was late and they didn't let me enter," he had been very upset about it. They insisted that they would not bend the rules, not even for the past champion. 

Misty had tried to wake Ash, but he had stayed up all night catching up with Ritchie whom he had not seen in years. Ritchie had been absent from the previous tournament in which Ash won. During their reunion he mentioned that seeing Ash on TV made him want to enter the Indigo League again. Ash ended up missing the competition, which Ritchie won, despite looking tired during his first battle. After his victory, Ritchie expressed that he really would have liked to battle Ash in the championship.

"I made a promise!" Ash loudly declared, "I promised Ritchie that I would battle him in this year's Indigo League championship. No matter what, I will not oversleep!" Laughter and amazement surged through the crowd.

"I'm looking forward to that battle!" Jango decided that it would be interesting to see a real champion battle more. "You can battle as long as you want. You can stop any time since you already passed the preliminary round. Show us what you can do!"

"Thanks!" Ash was as excited as he would get as a little boy. 

The crowd of spectators began to cheer his name, "Ash! Ash! Ash!" At first people assumed he was just a look-alike fan of Ash. They doubted a champion would participate in a relatively small, non-official tournament. 

"Did you hear that?" One of the trainers in the lobby next to the arena looked out the window. Ash was battling trainer after trainer as the crowd cheered his name. "That guy's the real Ash."

"There's no way I could beat him," a different trainer commented. 

"Man, this sucks, here I thought I had a shot at the cash," another participant grumbled.

Misty had miraculously found a spot near the front to squeeze into. The man next to her scooted over to make room for the pretty redhead. Misty had thanked him with neutral politeness and sat down. He might have sent her away saying there was no room, if he knew that her boyfriend was the show off in the arena.

xoxox xox xoxox

A while later, Comet arrived at the lobby; he changed and was wearing a lime green waiter uniform. He carried a large tray of cheese and ham appetizers on decorated toothpicks with tiny green ribbons at the end. He set the tray down on the table in the center of the lobby which served as the waiting room. Curious about the commotion, he went out to see what had captured everyone's attention. 

Jango was too excited watching a champion in action to notice that many of the participants were leaving. Taking notice of that, Comet quietly snuck over to Jango. The referee announced the end of another match, just before Comet discretely whispered to him, "we're going to run out of trainers for the tournament if this keeps up. Don't you see that a lot of them are leaving because they know they can't win?" The real trainers would stay for the challenge, but those interested only in the prize had no business there anymore.

If the tournament started with less participants than it was planned, it would bring more criticism to the improvised elimination round. To prevent that, Jango stopped Ash's sequential battles. The remaining participants were called into the arena's lobby to wait for the official tournament to begin. Before going to the lobby, Ash looked through the crowd until he spotted a pouting Misty. He waved at her, but she didn't wave back. 'What's her problem?' Ash thought. 'Is the heat, crowd and noise really bothering her this much?'

xoxox xox xoxox

At the lobby, Ash petted Pikachu, "you did really well out there." His main pokemon was only in the first few battles. Ash had learned not to push his luck too much over the years. He had his other pokemon take turns battling. He was still seen as being cocky, but in his way, he was cautious.

Switching pokemon was allowed at any point of the tournament outside of battle. A trainer could change the six pokemon he or she initially started with to prepare for the next round. The committee that organized the event thought that more people would be encouraged to participate if they thought they could create the perfect team to win. Of course, all the other contestants would be trying to do the same.

"Take this time to rest Pikachu. I know those battles were easy, but that wasn't the real tournament. We have to stay on our guard, save your strength for the end." Ash looked at the line of PCs at the lobby and sat down in front of one as soon as it became unoccupied. A lot of people were making last minute changes to their team. Some were even borrowing pokemon from friends, which was not against the rules. 

The real trainers were few and most of the people there were only after the prize. Many only kept pokemon as pets and didn't have enough in their collection to keep switching them for each round. Nor did they have truly significant battle experience. However, Ash would have to face those few real trainers eventually and he might get some surprises. 

The tournament was advertised mostly in Viridian City, as it was the people of that city who could keep the mayor in office. Nonetheless, it was open to the general public as part of the strategy of showing how great Viridian City's pokemon trainers were. The strategy was to create the illusion that they were being openly compared to the rest of Kanto through the tournament, while making sure Viridian had the best odds to win.

In reality, the advertisement didn't reach too far from Viridian City. Ash heard of the tournament because he was looking for competitions to enter. The crowd, other than the locals, mostly came from Pewter City. Yet the multitude on the street and the new faces, gave the tournament the impression of including all of Kanto.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 38: Give me Determination

Laiki tightened a bandage around the Nidorina's paw, "there now, you're okay." She didn't understand how the city hall's improvised medical facilities became so full so fast. The Viridian Pokemon Center couldn't be full yet, or even occupied enough to be considered crowded. Those trainers probably thought it was cooler to go to city hall to have their pokemon treated for a change. Or perhaps they were directed there as part of the mayor's campaign. It was all the more work for Laiki, albeit she was supposed to be backing up the Pokemon Center, not turning city hall into its replacement.

Comet entered with his Meowth, Purry, following him a few feet away. She seemed to be embarrassed to be seen with such a ridiculously dressed trainer, in his lime green waiter suit. One thing was for sure, she would not ride on his shoulder like she usually did. "How's it going?" Comet greeted.

Purry considered running off again, but she wanted to stay close enough to her trainer to have easy access to all the areas in the arena. She loved watching battles; it helped her improve by observing the way other pokemon fought. She was a very tough and feisty pokemon. Besides, she would never forgive herself if she missed the ending of the tournament when the Viridian gym leader was scheduled to battle. That would be her chance to see his handsome Persian. Even if Persian wasn't sent out to battle, Purry knew he would be there next to his trainer as always. She would watch him hidden in the shadows as she always did.

The city hall looked as elegant as ever, with its mirror-like perfectly polished floors. The walls were adorned with forest themed wallpaper, which would have looked terribly tacky despite its expense, if not for the lovely glass chandelier overhead. The chandelier saved city hall from being a total eye sore by taking away all the attention that would have otherwise been directed at the leafy wallpaper. 'Forest pride,' that was what the mayor called his decor. It was an effort to win the votes of those who were fans of the Viridian forest. The forest was taken very good care of. Far from doing it as a favor to nature, the reason was mostly because it was a wonderful cover for run away thieves to sneak into their base.

"Busy," Laiki had a nice welcoming expression, but it was obvious she wasn't happy to be kept too busy to have time to snoop around. "How are things out there?"

"Not too great. A lot of the trainers that gathered here did it for the prize money. Most of the real professionals wouldn't be interested in an unofficial tournament not backed by the league, even if it is legal," Comet stood in a corner leaning against the wall near the examination table. 

Laiki's next patient was a Voltorb. "There's nothing wrong with this one, he just fainted," she muttered as she tried to resuscitate the pokemon without causing him to explode. "So what's the problem? Is the crowd getting out of hand?" She wished she could see it, it certainly sounded more interesting than what she was currently doing. The injuries coming from battles seen by the public were not a real medical challenge, unlike the critical conditions she was used to treating.

"Not quite," Comet grinned, clearly amused. "You know how they were making the trainers battle to eliminate each other because there were too many? You're not going to believe what this guy did. He certainly made things go faster. It makes me wish I could battle him, too bad I can't enter the competition because I'm stuck delivering snacks."

"Voltorb! Voltorb!" The patient was finally awake and not in a good mood.

"Return!" Laiki called the Voltorb, back into his pokeball. It was her way to deal with stubborn pokemon when she would rather occupy herself with something else. "Well, are you going to tell me what this mysterious trainer you speak of did?"

Comet petted his Meowth, who hissed in response. She rarely allowed anyone to pet her, scratching at whoever tried. Comet was an exception, but not while he was wearing lime green. She ran off to the other side of the room and sat proudly in a corner. Comet looked down at his clothes, "only the boss can wear such bright colors without being hated."

"Even if we forgive orange, I doubt anyone would overlook lime green for too long. Besides, he's been dressing better lately," Laiki commented. "You're doing it on purpose, aren't you?" She pouted indignantly, "keeping me in suspense like this. C'mon, tell me, who is the trainer you spoke of? What did he do?"

Comet grinned, "Ash," he announced, "the Indigo League champion of the year before last." The man who Comet did not know was Delia's son. He only knew her by her first name from his father's stories. "The same one everyone is expecting to see facing off against last year's winner in this year's championship."

"No way, now that's news!" Laiki cheered excitedly, "tell me more, I must know!" Theories about the boss secretly having a descendant somewhere in the world were not unheard of. But every time the theories surfaced the stories eventually faded into nothing. This time, not even Laiki was expecting it.

xoxox xox xoxox

At Giovanni's office at the Viridian Gym, Delia had fallen into a monologue. After bringing up the topic of the letter she left before her departure from Team Rocket, she recounted various events from the past. She added in all the thoughts she didn't voice and perhaps didn't fully realize at those times. She had set her mind to revealing everything, but she couldn't find the balance between being too direct and going in circles.

The phone rang, putting an end to Giovanni's already drying patience, "I have to take that call."

"I understand," Delia did not complain and instead grew silent. She remained frozen in place, save for the motions of petting Persian on her lap. She reasoned that if Giovanni wanted her to leave, he would have said so. Besides, back when her abundant knowledge about Team Rocket had been recent, he never made the effort to find her, not even for the sake of ensuring her silence. He knew she would never speak against him.

Giovanni recognized the caller's number as coming directly from the mayor's office. He answered, knowing full well that even if mayor Rune Antilles was quite useful, he could be too much of a worrier at times.

"Giovanni, we have a problem!" The mayor's voice came from the receiver as soon as he heard the ringing stop, even before Giovanni could speak. "There's this young man who scared off some of the trainers. They say he has really strong pokemon and walks around with a ferocious Pikachu on his back!" As he listened to Rune, Giovanni tried to imagine the ferocious Pikachu. The gym leader found he could not; some pokemon were too cute to look ferocious, despite their power.

"He's not from Viridian City," the mayor continued with great concern, "he's from Pallet Town or something like that. Do you happen to know where that is?" Mayor Antilles was a man of high society and politics, though he was far from being a rich extremist. He did not think of an excursion to a 'peasant town' as a novelty. He simply did not know where on the map the little town was located because he had no business with it.

"Pallet Town is south from Viridian City, but why does it matter? A few decent competitors had to show up, that doesn't sound like a problem at all," Giovanni had taken a quick look out the window at the crowded streets below before Delia arrived. The city was infested with amateurs that called themselves trainers, he could tell just by looking.

"You'll take care of him won't you?" Rune insisted in a worried voice, "don't forget our plan. If someone from Viridian City wins the tournament, that trainer will win all the way in the extra battle against you. If someone from out of the city wins, even if they get the prize money, they will not get the glory. It will be up to you as the gym leader to avenge our proud city!"

"I'll win no matter what, just like I told you," regardless of if the trainer was from Viridian City or not, Giovanni would not allow himself to be defeated.

"But what about-" before Rune could finish, Giovanni ended the call and silence once again invaded his office.

"Is everything okay?" Delia felt the need to say something, before the atmosphere became too heavy with accumulating silence. In reality not more than a few seconds of quiet had passed.

"Yes, it's just Rune worrying about someone from Pallet Town with a ferocious Pikachu," clearly, Giovanni thought the mayor's worries were ridiculous and exaggerated. The mention of the little town brought up a question, "do you live in Pallet Town?"

Delia took a moment to reply, she had been a little distracted thinking that the trainer from Pallet Town who had the ferocious Pikachu had to be Ash. However, his Pikachu was absolutely adorable. The only ferocious thing about him was his appetite for her pancakes. "Yes, I do, I've lived in Pallet Town for many years," so far Delia had discussed the past, but had not spoken of the present. "In fact, I have a little restaurant there, you can't miss it; it's the only restaurant in town. What I mean is, maybe you should drop by sometime."

"Is that why you came here?" Giovanni sat beside Delia again, he was finished waiting. "You looked like you had something important to say. Your voice reminded me of when you were about to tell me a vital piece of information I never would have guessed you could obtain."

That wasn't the case; this was information that was impossible for her to not know. After all, no woman can give birth and not notice. "Do you like to watch the Indigo League championships on TV?" She finally found a strategy. Before telling him about Ash's identity, she would tell him just how great Ash was.

"Delia, just say what you were going to say," Giovanni insisted. As curious and surprised as he was due to her sudden visit, his patience had run dry listening to her stories of the past. He thought he would have figured out what this visit was about by then, even if she didn't say anything directly.

"This is what I was going to say, it's important, the truth is-" the phone rang again, cutting off Delia's sentence. She remained quiet as Giovanni went to answer the phone. She wanted his full attention when she explained everything. She would wait until he was done talking, rather than rush her explanation or share him with the phone. He could follow both voices, she knew that. But with news such as the kind she brought, his train of thought might come to a full halt when he heard, or perhaps speedily derail. As long as he had some sort of reaction that was not indifference, Delia would be satisfied. Anger, regret, happiness, disbelief, any emotion would do, it was uncaring indifference that she feared.

The conversation on the phone went in a similar way to last time. Mayor Antilles' speedy worried rambles came from the receiver as soon as Giovanni picked it up, before he could even speak. "We have less than fifty participants. A few of them have been identified as being very good, but mostly they are beginners. The good ones keep their battles quick because of the power difference in comparison to their opponents. Add to that the fact that so many trainers dropped out and the tournament will be cut short. We are ahead of schedule, but in a bad way! Even if we had too many participants before that troublesome man with the ferocious Pikachu showed up, now we don't have enough. We're taking late entries, but if worse comes to worse, I'll need your personnel out there to fill in the spots."

"Which is what I said should be done from the beginning," Giovanni reminded, he didn't share the abundant concern the mayor had about his 'personnel' being discovered.

"Yes, yes, but who would have thought he would show up, do you know who he is?" Mayor Antilles didn't give Giovanni the chance to answer before he revealed the young man's identity, though not by name, "he's the Indigo League champion from two years ago!" 

Giovanni looked pleased with the news; he was looking forward to a challenge. He had no real battles in a long time. Badges were still given away now and then simply because that was his duty as a gym leader. He had to fulfill it to keep his position, but those were not real battles to him. "Good, I'm looking forward to that battle," Giovanni hung up in a slightly better mood than before.

"I take it you received news of a worthy opponent?" Delia voiced as naturally as she could. She had been very close to revealing everything before the interruption and she intended to pick up where she left off as soon as she recovered his attention.

"Yes, the Indigo League champion from two years ago is here, according to the mayor," Giovanni observed Delia's expression, she was a little surprised for a split second, then took on a knowing look. It was as if she had heard exactly what she wanted to hear. He remembered how Delia always found ways to surprise him and somehow ended up knowing far more than he expected. "You asked me if I watched the Indigo League championships on TV and it turns out the champion from two years ago is here. I take it this is not a coincidence."

"Do you know who he is?" Finally the conversation seemed to be advancing, which pleased Delia.

"No, I didn't watch the championship, I was busy. But if he's from Pallet Town then you must know him. Everyone still knows everyone there, right?" Whatever puzzle was awaiting; it had to be solved soon.

"Yes, I do know him," Delia smiled filled with thoughts of her son, their son. "It was many years ago when he was ten, nearly eleven really. That was when Ash started his pokemon journey from Pallet Town. He traveled to many places, met many people and had many adventures. He's come very far since then. You wouldn't remember him; you never battled him for a badge and I doubt you ever met."

During the time of Ash's first journey there were several small gyms that gave out badges aside from the main eight gyms of Kanto. Because of that, Giovanni wasn't surprised to hear someone had made it to the Indigo League without ever battling him. 

"He does have an Earth badge though," Delia added, observing Giovanni's expression. She still had his attention and interest, he was puzzled and curious. "You weren't here during that time, he battled someone else to obtain the Earth badge," Jessie and James to be specific, but there was no need to associate their names with Team Rocket anymore. They had retired from the team a few years ago, or rather they were fired. Both of them were good people after getting to know them as friends rather than criminals. Delia certainly knew how to make them behave with the promise of food. Jessie, James and their talking Meowth were big fans of her cooking.

"So his name is Ash and he has an Earth badge, which he obtained while I was away," it wasn't rare that Giovanni had to delegate his gym leader duties, thus he didn't look too deeply into that detail. He didn't realize the mysterious Ash was involved in the incident that ended up leaving the gym in ruins. He didn't know anything about Ash's involvement in the Mewtwo case and he didn't remember Mewtwo. Giovanni's memories about the legendary pokemon were locked away and he was convinced the cloning experiment had been a complete failure. "He's from Pallet Town and he has a Pikachu," Giovanni finished listing the facts he knew so far, "all of this is somehow linked to something you came to say?"

"Yes, it concerns both of us-" again Delia's voice was interrupted by the phone, but that time her expression was annoyed. Her face lacked the patience she practiced the last two times. 

She sighed as Giovanni went to pick up the phone. He spoke before Rune's worrisome rambles came, "what is it now, Antilles?"

"Goodness, are you angry? I suppose the seriousness of the situation finally sunk in. I'll be shooting myself in the foot if this tournament puts Viridian City below the level of some small town in the middle of nowhere," the mayor dramatized, "if it comes to that, you must win and avenge Viridian City!"

"You said that already and I told you that no matter what, I'll win the battle. If you don't have anything else to say, stop calling, I'm busy." Whatever mystery Delia held, it had build up to the point where it would endlessly bother Giovanni if he didn't solve it. It couldn't be anything urgent, if it was, Delia would have said it already without worrying about the phrasing, unless she was unsure if she should say it. Either way, he wanted to know what was important enough to make her show up at the gym after a very long absence. He told himself he shouldn't care, but the mystery kept nagging at him to be uncovered.

"What about the speech? We're starting the tournament and you're supposed to give a speech too. I'll start with my speech. It won't last more than ten minutes, so please get ready. We need to start the tournament before more people leave!" Mayor Antilles was clearly stressed.

"I'm on my way," Giovanni didn't wait for a reply before ending the call. He looked at Delia, who was giving him the very same look she gave him many years ago. It was the expression she had when she used to say she missed him, even if they lived together.

"I know, you have to go, but it's alright, because I want you to see for yourself what I was trying to tell you. I want you to know what I mean," her words didn't make too much sense to him. The only clue was the young man who had won the Indigo League championship in the past. "If you face him in battle, you'll learn more than what I could tell you, that's just how it is for two great trainers." She got up and started walking towards the office door, "I hope there's enough room for one more in the crowd." 

"Wait, why don't you just tell me now? What were you going to say after you came all this way?" The mystery was really annoying Giovanni.

Delia smiled, "it's nice that you're interested in knowing, even if you don't know why you should be."

He didn't inquire further, if that was how she wanted it to be, then he would figure things out on his own. Nonetheless, he would make sure she stayed long enough to clarify his theories, whenever he came up with them. "You won't be able to find a seat now, unless you have a VIP pass."

xoxox xox xoxox

At the main entrance of the Viridian Stadium, Brock grimaced about his horrible luck. The girl from the ice-cream cart down the street was very nice to him and flirted with him for a while. He helped her take care of business, selling snow cones and popsicles of an assortment of flavors and various frozen treats. Eventually, she sold everything in her cart and left. 

Brock asked for her number, email, or any means to contact her. She replied that her boyfriend might not like it if another man called her. Heartbroken, Brock rushed to the stadium realizing at last just how much time had passed. He was out of luck in more ways than one, as the stadium was full and Wendy wasn't allowing anyone else in.

He decided that at least he would keep her company guarding the front gates. Then a tall man with dark hair and a mean glare, wearing a similar lime green suit arrived. The man growled, "is this guy bothering you?"

"Not at all," Wendy grinned, "Brock, was it? This is my husband."

Brock's jaw dropped, he was having really bad luck that day, "um... nice to meet you." Before the dangerous looking man could reply, Brock ran away in depressed embarrassment.

From a safe distance, Brock looked back at the Viridian Stadium and sighed. If he didn't get married soon, he feared he never would. Everyone was either dating, engaged or already married. Soon Ash would be married too whenever he got around to propose. 

He wondered the streets passing in front of the city hall on his way to the Pokemon Center. He wanted to find a quiet spot to sit and wait. He had come to terms with the reality that he would miss the tournament. He couldn't even flirt with Jenny or Joy because they were both married. Each of them had a baby girl identical to the mother.

He noticed people going in and out of city hall quite freely and wondered in. The large lobby at the entrance had been transformed into a medical facility and there was a pretty blond nurse. She was talking to a red haired young man. 

The man began to leave, saying something about getting back to work. As he passed by, he stopped and looked at the depressed Brock, "are you okay?"

Brock looked absolutely agonized, "is she your girlfriend?"

Comet gave him an odd look, "of course not!"

Laiki threw her head back in laughter, "he's more like a brother to me," though they were not biologically related.

Brock's face brightened so much that Comet backed away, startled by the sudden change of expression. "Do you need help with anything?" Brock dashed over to Laiki, "by the way, my name's Brock, I'm a pokemon breeder. What's your name?"

Feeling ignored, Comet decided to continue on his way with Purry, following him. The Meowth still refused to be carried down the busy streets while her trainer was dressed in a lime green waiter suit. Comet decided not to meddle. Surely Laiki wouldn't lead on that poor desperate guy too much. She already had two boyfriends, one in Johto and another in the Orange Islands. Then again, she might want to have a Kanto boyfriend. Comet shook his head and kept walking; it was none of his business anyway.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. Wendy is from the episode "Dues and Don'ts" she joined Team Rocket around the same time Jessie did. The part about there being other gyms aside the main eight is a reference to Gary's many Kanto badges in the anime.


	10. Part 10

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 39: Give me Peace

There was a balcony in a tower above the climbing rows of benches in the circular white stone structure of the Viridian Stadium. The balcony consisted of a square platform suspended on two tall columns, positioned in the north-west and south-east corners of it. It had a stone railing around it and four thinner columns, one on each corner, supporting a triangular roof over it.

Behind the balcony there was a little bridge that led to another tall structure. The structure was made of four roman style columns and walls covering the little tower completely, that was were the elevator was. If the Viridian Stadium was an ancient coliseum, the royals would sit at the balcony and watch the gladiators battle below. That was the VIP area from where the mayor, the gym leader and the surprise guest would watch the tournament.

As Giovanni gave his speech, playing the part of the noble gym leader admirably, Ash stared up at the balcony with open mouthed, wide eyed shock. Delia bit her lip and forced herself not to look away. She had allowed this to happen. Did Ash recognize Giovanni from the picture?

In truth, as Ash stared up, the gym leader was far from his mind. He was in fact staring at his mother, wondering what in the world she was doing up there.

For a split second during his speech, Giovanni looked directly at Ash. The young man must know Delia, since he was staring right at her. At that same moment, Ash glanced at the gym leader and felt as if the leader was looking right at him, examining his face closely. By then Ash had managed to close his mouth and compose himself, just in time for the end of Giovanni's speech. There was something familiar about the gym leader, but Ash couldn't quite put his finger on it. 

It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that the Viridian gym leader, Giovanni, looked familiar. Ash had never battled him, but he was a gym leader. It was possible his picture had been printed somewhere. A picture, that sounded right, but Ash couldn't remember where he saw Giovanni's picture. He assumed it must have been on TV, a magazine or a Pokemon League brochure. He didn't think too much of it beyond that. 

The participants who had gathered in the center of the arena to listen to the speech were ushered back into the lobby to wait their turn to battle. Ash remembered to search for Misty in the crowd. He spotted her near the front looking uncomfortable by the limited space available to her on the full bench. She was looking between him and the balcony. Misty had definitely noticed Ash's mother up there and must also be wondering why she was there. 

Brock was nowhere to be found and neither Ash, nor Misty, nor Delia knew where he was. They all assumed he was somewhere in the crowd. It would be impossible to reach him on his cell phone; he wouldn't hear it with the noise of the crowd cheering for the gym leader. In contrast, the mayor's speech seemed to put them to sleep before. 

Mayor Rune Antilles had been reelected over and over for years. However, Rune was certain that Giovanni held the real political power and he was a mere subordinate to serve as a figurehead at city hall. Giovanni was far too busy to be gym leader and mayor at the same time. Rune was well aware of where he stood, though he still tried to win the voters' favor for himself. Yet he knew he would never gain the amount of support the gym leader had.

xoxox xox xoxox

Time passed and Ash sat impatiently at the lobby, waiting to be called out to battle. More trainers were eliminated with each round, but Ash had not been called out yet. He had a good view of the action from the lobby's glass windows. The battles were mostly not what he was used to. He attributed it to this being an unofficial tournament.

"Prepare for trouble!" Ash heard a familiar voice right behind him.

"Make it double!" He recognized the second voice as well.

He turned around to see Jessie and James, "are you two going to greet me with your motto every time?" They were not in Team Rocket anymore. Their mysterious boss, Ash had no clue who he was, had fired them a few years ago. Ash remembered the story his mother told him about when Jessie and James went to Pallet Town.

xoxox xox xoxox

With a plentiful criminal record, it became difficult for Jessie and James to get jobs. Without Team Rocket to take them in anymore, it was a challenge to survive. Delia found them one day in her kitchen along with their talking Meowth. They had lost track of Ash, whom they blamed for getting fired, and decided to go to Pallet Town. They planned to find Ash or at least steal Professor Oak's pokemon. In the end, the scent of Delia's food was more tempting than any other robbery. Sneaking into the kitchen was easy, but stealing was unsuccessful as they were attacked by a Mr. Mime.

The pokemon desisted when his trainer appeared, "it's okay Mimey, these people are my guests."

"Mr. Mime!" The pokemon nodded and cheerfully went about his duties of cleaning the house.

"Have a seat, I've made lots of food today, do you like curry?" Delia had asked with a smile.

Jessie, James and Meowth immediately obeyed, sitting down and nodding their heads, "yes, yes!"

"Okay, here you go," Delia served a dish of delicious curry for each of them and set them on the table. "How about some cold lemonade? It's extra sweet," she served the drinks as well, watching as the trio ate.

"Why is it that you're giving us food?" Jessie finally asked between bites.

"Because you looked hungry. Besides, I heard the whole story from Ash," Delia revealed, "he told me that you were fired and were following him around blaming him for it. I think this is your chance to start over. I'm sure there are many things you must want to do that you couldn't achieve in Team Rocket."

Meowth got teary eyed, "all I wanted was to be the boss' top cat! Now he's going to keep that Persian forever."

"Aw, it's okay," Delia tried to console him, gently petting Meowth, "I'm sure your boss has a special reason to care for his Persian so much," she gave no hint of knowing what that reason was. "Wouldn't you rather be with Jessie and James instead? I'm sure you would miss them."

"Yeah, I guess so," Meowth sadly admitted.

"But Team Rocket is all we ever knew and we can't even get jobs now," Jessie frowned. The cheer that the food had brought was melting away as the meal came to an end.

"There's always a way, don't give up!" Delia placed three slices of cake on the table for them. "I'll talk to Professor Oak; maybe he can find jobs for you, but you have to promise to behave."

That was how it all started thanks to Delia and her food. Jessie and James worked for Professor Oak for a while, helping take care of the pokemon. Meowth worked as a translator. Professor Oak was fascinated listening to Meowth's stories and Meowth couldn't be happier to go on and on about anything and everything. 

After some time, Jessie and James decided they wanted to be more independent instead of counting on Professor Oak for everything. They eventually set off on a journey. Later, they established a pokemon day care center in Saffron City, which went surprisingly well. They still visited Pallet Town every now and then and Meowth stayed in contact with Professor Oak by phone. They would talk for hours whenever he called.

Jessiebelle found out James was living in Saffron City and went to kidnap him on occasion. Jessie would always joke about how James was such a princess, being constantly kidnapped and in need of rescue. The danger of being kidnapped by Jessiebelle ended when James effectively broke off his engagement in a way no one could ignore, he married Jessie.

xoxox xox xoxox

While battles took place in the arena, the atmosphere in the lobby was calm. "How have you been twerp? I haven't seen you in a while," Jessie voiced as she picked up Pikachu off Ash's shoulder and petted him. The pokemon wasn't worried at all anymore, "if only it had been this easy back then."

"Pikachu is only being nice because he knows you're not trying to steal him away," Ashe reasoned, then firmly added, "and don't call me twerp, I'm taller than you!"

Jessie returned Pikachu and laughed, "once a twerp, always a twerp!"

"You're here for the tournament aren't you?" It was James' brilliant deduction. "You can forget about winning because I'm going to win, right Growlie?" The Growlithe barked happily and wagged his tail.

"No way, Pikachu and I will win!" Ash's declaration was followed by Pikachu's support. Ash had not seen Jessie or James among the participants during the gym leader's speech. He assumed they must have just arrived and were accepted as late entries. 

Jessie and James had been there since the beginning, but decided to keep a low profile for the time being. They had signed up for the tournament with fake names and intended to wear disguises for the battles to avoid being recognized by Giovanni. They were not part of Team Rocket anymore and they were under an oath of secrecy that would bring terrible consequences if broken. The oath had not been broken, but there was no need to attract too much attention.

"You're both wrong because I'll win!" Meowth proudly declared. "Then he'll know just what he's missing for not making me top cat."

"I thought you were over that," Jessie argued, clearly annoyed. She remembered how much Meowth complained when they were fired. 

"I am over it!" Meowth pouted.

"Either way you're a pokemon," Jessie reminded. "You'll have to go out there and battle if you want a share of the prize. You can be on James' team; I'm all set to go with my lovely Flareon!" Jessie released the pokemon from her pokeball. Flareon's fur was well groomed and shiny, she had a pair of yellow bows on her ears.

"Don't forget she used to be my Flareon, but it looks like you're taking really good care of her." Ash petted the pokemon he took care of as an Eevee. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash had been at Pallet Town when Eevee evolved. Jessie and James were still part of Team Rocket at the time. They arrived at Professor Oak's research laboratory to steal his pokemon. It was something they had tried on numerous occasions before and failed. 

That time had started the same way as always, with Jessie, James and Meowth reciting their motto. They played their cards right for the most part and in the mist of the chaos, Pikachu found himself trapped by a robotic rubber covered claw. While Ash tried to rescue Pikachu, he lost track of Eevee, whom he had let out to play.

Eevee had been very shy at first and Pikachu had always encouraged her. It made her look up to him as a brother. Her big brother needed help, but Eevee knew she wouldn't be strong enough to help him in her current form. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Earlier, Professor Oak had been showing Ash some evolution stones an offered to give him one for Eevee.

"Do you want to evolve?" Ash asked encouragingly, "what would you like to evolve into?"

"Eevee..." she shook her head, evolution frightened her.

"Not right now? It's alright, you don't have to evolve if you don't want to," Ash reassured her.

xoxox xox xoxox

Eevee ran inside to the laboratory where the evolution stones were kept. She wasn't afraid of evolving anymore. The stones were on the same table were they had been displayed before; Ash had picked her up so she could see them. Eevee didn't know what she wanted to evolve into; she just knew she wanted to be strong. 

She pulled on the table cloth trying to make the stones fall on the floor where she could reach them. Maybe she could evolve into Jolteon and use electric attacks just like Pikachu. Or perhaps she could be Vaporeon; Misty seemed excited about that possibility so it had to be a powerful evolution too. As she pulled on the table cloth, it was the fire stone which fell on her head.

At first Eevee felt the pain of the stone falling on her head, then she was surrounded by warmth and light and the pain was gone. She had not planned on evolving into Flareon, but when her body had changed completely, she found that she liked it. 

Flareon dashed outside with new found strength and let out a powerful fire attack that caused Team Rocket's equipment to overheat and malfunction. The rubber claw opened, releasing Pikachu, and with a combination attack of electricity and fire, the Team Rocket trio was sent to blast off again.

xoxox xox xoxox

The story of how Ash's Flareon became Jessie's Flareon took place after Jessie and James were fired from Team Rocket. For many years, James entrusted Growlie with the mission of taking care of his parents. After Jessie and James established their pokemon day care center, James decided to keep Growlie there. Growlie would be very helpful in case Butch and Cassidy showed up to steal the pokemon, as it had become their occasional habit. Jessie even admitted that it was kind of fun to send them blasting off. 

One day, Jessie, James and their pokemon, including Meowth and Growlie, went to visit Pallet Town. Gary had previously been away on a research trip when Ash's Eevee evolved into Flareon and Flareon had been traveling with Ash the rest of the time.

It was on that day when Ash, James and Gary were at Professor Oak's house simultaneously, that their respective pokemon Flareon, Growlie and Umbreon met. Fate would have it that both Umbreon and Growlie would fall in love with the beautiful Flareon and fight over her. The pokemon had been let out to play, but the noise of battle alerted the trainers who rushed out to see what was happening. They found Umbreon and Growlie locked in a fierce fight.

Flareon became upset that they were fighting over her, but at the same time ignoring her in favor of focusing on their battle. Frustrated, she let out a powerful flame thrower at the two male pokemon. The attack certainly got their attention; she yelled at them and ran away.

Both Umbreon and Growlie called out after Flareon and followed her. The pokemon were chased by their trainers and friends. Ash, Misty, Brock, Gary, James, Jessie and Meowth rushed after the run away pokemon. They ran out of Professor Oak's property and into the streets of Pallet Town.

Mrs. Alderaan was an old lady who lived in a little house down the main street of Pallet Town. She had a female Bellsprout named Belle, whom she spoiled very much. Belle always had a big pink bow tied around her thin neck, pink lipstick on her round mouth and pink eye-shadow over her beady eyes.

The coquette Bellsprout often suffered from chronic hiccup attacks. Mrs. Alderaan would always worry about her and call Professor Oak, asking him to give Belle first aid before she choked. Belle's condition wasn't serious at all, Mrs. Alderaan just exaggerated. Plus she had a tendency to go on and on about her precious Belle and the cute things she did. Thus Mrs. Alderaan was known as a sweet and grandmotherly, yet annoying old lady.

There was a wild male Weepinbell who liked to hang out around Pallet Town because he had fallen in love with Belle. Mrs. Alderaan was convinced the wild pokemon just wanted to pick a fight with her sweet Belle. "Get away you beast! Get away!" Mrs. Alderaan would always chase the Weepinbell away with a broom. Lucky for the love-struck Weepinbell, Mrs. Alderaan often misplaced her glasses and she couldn't see well enough to actually hit him.

Flareon suddenly ran through Mrs. Alderaan's front yard at full speed. The passing blur of red and yellow startled the old lady and she began to swing her broom around randomly. She was convinced that the wild Weepinbell, who had already made his escape, was trying to attack her.

Umbreon and Growlie dodged the broom and ran past Mrs. Alderaan in Flareon's pursuit. Mrs. Alderaan's broom slipped out of her grasp and went flying as the trainers arrived, chasing after their pokemon. The broom hit Ash on the head, causing him to stumble backwards into Misty. Misty lost her footing and accidentally pushed Jessie, who took James down with her. That caused James to fall on Brock, who in turn collided with Gary. The end of the pile of living dominos was the unfortunate Meowth.

Mrs. Alderaan finally calmed down and looked at the pile of people in her yard. "Oh my, were you attacked by that wild Weepinbell too? He's such a beast! Just the other day he almost snuck into my house. I don't know what would have become of my little Belle if I hadn't stopped him."

The group of trainers and pokemon stumbled to their feet. One became free to get up only after those at the front of the domino row were on their feet. "Sorry, Mrs. Alderaan but we're in a hurry," Ash continued the pursuit, followed by Misty, Jessie, James, Brock, Gary and Meowth.

"Wait, I wanted to tell you about Belle!" Mrs. Alderaan called out, but the group was already gone. She huffed indignantly, "kids today, always in a rush." She didn't realize that Ash and the others were no longer children, but compared to her advanced age, they might as well be.

xoxox xox xoxox

By the time the group finally found Flareon and her admirers outside of Pallet Town, they had already solved their dispute. There was a multitude of fainted Spearow and Fearow all around, with a few Pidgey, Pidgeotto and a pair of Pidgeot near by. 

Umbreon was heading back towards town, stomping his paws and pouting every step of the way. He walked up to Gary and expressed his desire to rest in his pokeball, "umbreon!"

"He says he wants to go in his pokeball," Meowth translated.

"Alright, it does look like there was a big battle here," Gary agreed, "get some rest, return!" With Umbreon back inside his pokeball, Gary turned towards Meowth for additional information. "Can you ask them what happened?"

"Sure, would you guys care to explain?" Meowth inquired to all the other pokemon in general. The male Pidgeot stepped forward and spoke in his language, which Meowth translated. "He's saying the Spearow and Fearow were picking a fight. He and his mate were defending the Pidgey and Pidgeotto when Flareon ran right into the war zone. Growlie and Umbreon tried to protect her, but she didn't need to be saved so they just got caught in her attacks. Then they teamed up with the Pidgeot and fought the Spearow and Fearow. Oh and he also says it's good to see you again, twerp."

"Stop calling me twerp!" Ash snapped at Meowth then walked over to his old friend Pidgeot. "I'm happy to see you too. I knew you would be happy here and you even found a pretty girl. I'm glad you're still taking care of the Pidgey and Pidgeotto."

"Oh yes, and thanks for helping knock out all these Fearow and Spearow," Jessie joyfully added as she readied her pokeballs.

"Thank you very much!" James agreed with the same happiness.

"Stop it you two, it's not fair to catch all these pokemon that you didn't even battle yourselves. Besides, it looks like they're getting ready to leave," Ash pointed at the Fearow who was the leader of the flock. He had woken up and was retreating with the Spearow.

"No, come back!" Jessie called after the fleeing pokemon, but of course, they didn't listen. Disappointed, she glared at Ash, "it's your fault they got away for distracting me!"

"Never mind that now, look at them!" James pointed at Flareon and Growlie with an adoring smile.

"Don't interrupt me!" Jessie growled, but stopped herself and gained a dreamy expression along with Misty. Both women chorused high a pitched "how cute!" Flareon and Growlie were cuddling together, looking quite loving. 

"I see; Growlie must have proven how heroic he is when he tried to help Flareon, right?" James theorized, with great pride in his pokemon.

Flareon explained something, which made Growlie pause and stop wagging his tail with a soft whine. Albeit Flareon licked his cheek and reassured him, which cheered him up. 

Meowth translated Flareon's explanation, "Flareon said that Growlie is so adorably helpless, she couldn't help it but to want to stay with him and protect him."

Gary laughed, realizing Umbreon had not completely lost. He couldn't be adorably helpless because he couldn't be helpless at all, he would tell Umbreon that if he was still upset later.

James looked shocked and stuttered for a moment before he finally let out a loud exclamation of "Growlie is strong!"

Ash smiled proudly of his pokemon, "Flareon is just stronger."

Brock was full of excitement and fascination watching the two pokemon. He was also a little jealous because he couldn't even get a date, let alone find true love. "I think we should let them be together." Everyone agreed.

Ash petted Flareon with a gentle smile, "Growlie needs to help protect the pokemon day care center in Saffron City. You could be a big help too. Do you want to go live with Jessie, James, Growlie and their pokemon?"

"Flareon, flare!" Flareon nodded excitedly. She jumped into Ash's arms and licked his face, thanking him for having taken care of her. She exchanged a few words and a hug with Pikachu, then returned to Growlie's side.

In a split second Jessie was next to the happy couple, "since James has Growlie, I'll be taking care of Flareon," Jessie immediately volunteered. She made it clear she wouldn't take no for an answer. "Besides, she's the perfect pokemon for me. I completely understand what she was saying before about adorably helpless men."

"What do you mean by that?" James pouted, making an upset, yet adorable face.

Jessie tried to look completely innocent, though she still had an amused grin, "nothing, nothing."

xoxox xox xoxox

Jessie and James had come far from the way things used to be when Ash's travels first began. Now they would be participating on the Viridian tournament as friends. 

"We can't stay and chat, we need to get into our costumes before our names are called," Jessie reminded.

"Costumes?" Ash blinked in puzzlement, but assumed it was all just for show.

"We have our reasons," James didn't elaborate beyond that and left the lobby along with Jessie.

xoxox xox xoxox

One battle after another passed and trainers came and went from the waiting room. The winner would stay and the loser would be escorted out. Ash had never been too good at seeing past the disguises Jessie and James came up with, but he did recognize their pokemon. Thus he knew they had been called to battle and both had won their respective matches. Time went by and Ash was starting to worry that they had forgotten about him. "Excuse me," he addressed the waiter in the lime green suit, who came and went bringing snacks for the trainers.

"Yes, is there anything you need?" Comet asked politely.

"I was wondering when my turn is coming. I've seen some people go out to battle twice already and I haven't battled at all." This wasn't an official league tournament so maybe things were done differently. He didn't want to be forgotten and thus disqualified. Ash really needed to win and get Misty an amazing ring. Besides, after hearing the gym leader's speech, Ash was really looking forward to their match. 

Giovanni seemed cool for some unknown reason. Ash still had a nagging feeling in the back of his head that told him he had seen the gym leader somewhere before. It wasn't something as simple as a brochure, magazine or TV, but he could think of no where else where he could have seen Giovanni.

"Don't worry about that," Comet smiled reassuringly, he knew what was going on. If the champion, who happened to be from outside of Viridian City, went out there and badly beat the multitude of local rookies, it wouldn't make the city look good. That would not work in the mayor's favor. "This is a different kind of tournament, names are chosen at random. The trainers who lose are eliminated from the list so they won't be called out again. I'm sure your name is there, you just haven't been chosen."

Ash had a thoughtful expression, "so do they just pull names out of a hat?"

"Yeah, something like that," Comet decided to play along. Ash, despite being an amazing pokemon trainer and a past Indigo League champion, appeared to be gullible enough. Though he certainly had a lot of energy and an air of absolute determination. The look in Ash's eyes was somewhat familiar, but Comet didn't know where he had seen it before.

"Oh, alright then, I understand. Thanks for explaining it," Ash smiled, relieved that he had not been forgotten. It was just his luck that he wasn't chosen to battle. As less trainers remained, his chances of being called out to battle should improve, so he would be ready.

"Sure, no problem. If you need anything just give me a call, I'll be around," Comet played his part and concluded that the job that had invaded his break wasn't so bad after all. At least he would get to see some interesting battles in the end. He was certain that good trainers were among the participants and it wouldn't be long before only they remained.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 40: Give me Skill

Time continued to pass and the number of trainers left in the tournament was significantly smaller. Ash was sitting in the lobby, he didn't have the energy to stand by the window and watch the battles. He wanted to shout out advice as if he were part of the crowd, but that red haired waiter in the lime green suit told him he had to be quiet. The excuse was that he shouldn't distract the battling trainers. The truth was that people might complain if they thought the champion's advice decided the match instead of the battling trainers. 

Just watching quietly made Ash grow more impatient for his name to be called. He was sitting with his head down in impatient frustration when someone asked, "why the long face, Ash?"

"I haven't been called out to battle, not even once." Ash looked up at the one who had spoken, instantly recognizing the other young man, "Ritchie! What are you doing here?"

"Rumors travel fast. I was at the Pewter City Pokemon Center when I heard you were here. I made a few calls and rushed over. They're letting me participate as a late entry." Ritchie happily announced. Normally, he would only be interested in official Pokemon League competitions, but being able to battle Ash within a tournament was worth the exception. It was more exciting than a private battle, as it felt different with the energetic atmosphere of battling in front of a crowd. It helped both trainers battle at their best.

Ash's mood took a sharp turn for the better, "this is great! We'll finally get to battle; I'm looking forward to it so much!"

Ritchie laughed, "you haven't really changed at all." While the two Indigo League champions talked, the battles continued. The champions were being saved for last.

xoxox xox xoxox

Out in the arena, another match was about to start. Fan girl squeals erupted through the crowd as the mysterious Rose Mask appeared again. He looked dashing in his black tuxedo, cape, mask and top hat. He held a single red rose, posing with it. 

From the window of the lobby, Sailor Flame, who was Jessie in disguise, rolled her eyes and vowed to get a louder applause. She was wearing a white and red mini skirt sailor suit with a yellow bow. Her hair was in pigtails and she also had a mask similar to James'.

"For our next match we have Samurai versus Rose Mask, on a two on two battle. You may switch between your two chosen pokemon at any time, fight!" Jango announced the beginning of the match. The earlier rounds had been one on one to accommodate for the fact that some trainers only had one hastily caught or borrowed pokemon. They had already been eliminated so the number was increased to two for the next series of battles. The remaining trainers had no problem with that.

Samurai was from Viridian City, thus Mayor Antilles would be pleased if he won. It seemed most of the women in the crowd were cheering for Rose Mask, except for those who were Samurai's friends or relatives. Living up to his name, Samurai was dressed in classic armor with a helmet included and a katana at his waist. He threw out his first pokeball, which bounced back into his hand after releasing a red beam of light. The beam took the shape of a Butterfree. "My specialty are bug pokemon and they are all strong and noble!"

"They're also weak against fire types!" James reminded as he threw his own pokeball into the arena. His loyal friend Growlie emerged from the pokeball ready for battle. James looked back at Jessie, who was watching from the lobby's window. He wanted to see her reaction to his smart move, but she only glared at him. She was getting fed up with the constant high pitched squealing of the girls in the audience.

"You are very wrong if you think you can win judging only by types. I'll show you the true strength of an honorable warrior!" Samurai ordered the first move, "Butterfree, fly high up and use stun spore!"

"Don't let Butterfree get away, Growlie," James urged, "flame thrower!" Growlie began to shoot fire balls at James' command.

"Dodge it Butterfree!" The bug pokemon didn't even need to be told this, as she moved rapidly in the air out of the way of the flames immediately. At the same time, Butterfree released her stun spores. The potent yellow dust fell on Growlie, who immediately started feeling the effects.

"Don't give up Growlie! You just have to hit that Butterfree with your flame thrower, I'm sure it'll be super effective," James cheered for his pokemon, but Growlie was severely suffering from paralysis due to the effects of stun spore. He couldn't defend himself.

"Butterfree tackle!" The bug pokemon was small, but very strong. She swooped down at Growlie flying as fast as she could and collided with him pushing him back.

"C'mon Growlie, use flame thrower!" James watched as Butterfree tackled Growlie again and again. If that kept up, Growlie would faint. "Growlie, return for now." Since Growlie had not fainted, James still had the option to call him out again, but he was paralyzed and the use of healing items during the matches was prohibited. "Go Weezing!" Long ago, James had freed his Weezing at the same time Jessie freed her Arbok. During their journey years later, Jessie and James had ran into them again and the pokemon rejoined them. They had spent their time apart training their wild pokemon friends to defend themselves.

"Butterfree, tackle!" Samurai wasn't about to end the relentless attack.

"Weezing, smoke screen!" Hidden behind a curtain of smoke, Weezing was able to evade Butterfree's attack. "Good, now use a sludge bomb!" Weezing shot sludge at Butterfree. Some of it fell close to the referee, who jumped back in fright. Though Butterfree was lost in the smoke screen, she didn't stay still and it made her hard to hit.

"Use sleep powder Butterfree!" Samurai called out. He couldn't see what was happening behind the smoke. When it finally started to clear out a very sleepy Weezing was revealed. Butterfree kept flapping her wings with abundant blue dust coming from them. 

Weezing flew lower by the second until he was on the ground fast asleep. "Weezing you have to wake up!" James called out to his pokemon as loud as he could, but Weezing wasn't moving.

"Alright Butterfree, finish him off with hyper beam!" Samurai was sure he would win. After Weezing was out of the picture, all that remained to be done was to finish the paralyzed Growlithe.

"Weezing!" James didn't know what to do, he couldn't substitute Weezing with Growlie. He was still paralyzed, so that wouldn't make the situation any better. For a moment he was sure he would lose, but even so, there were people in the audience still loudly cheering for Rose Mask. The cheers of the crowd gave James an idea that might be crazy enough to work. He held up his rose, made a pose, winked and blew kisses at the audience. Simultaneous loud squeals erupted from the crowd in such a massive high pitched volume that Weezing woke up. The poison pokemon was so startled that he used self destruct. 

Butterfree and Weezing both lay on the arena unconscious, "Butterfree and Weezing are unable to battle!" Jango announced; "both trainers are down to one pokemon each!"

Samurai considered calling it cheating, but a warrior needs to be aware of his surroundings and how the field of battle can affect the outcome of the fight. He called his pokemon back into her pokeball, "Butterfree return, you fought excellently my friend."

"Time to rest, Weezing, you did great," James recalled Weezing into his pokeball and sent out Growlie again. "Don't give up Growlie, just try to recover and let's win this!" Growlie was struggling, trying to get his body to respond.

"There's no way you can win with a paralyzed pokemon," Samurai called out his second pokemon, "go Pinsir! If you refuse to give up, I have no choice but to end the battle myself."

"I'll never give up and I'll win!" James' supporters in the crowd continued to cheer for him.

"Pinsir, vice grip!" Samurai commanded and Pinsir easily captured Growlie between his horns. 

The fire pokemon let out a pained howl and James seriously considered giving up until he heard Flareon calling out to Growlie. "Flareon, flareon flare!" Flareon yelled from the window of the lobby.

"Growlithe, growl!" Growlie looked frightened for a moment, then suddenly determined. He would not give up.

Seeing Growlie try so hard to force himself to move, James knew he couldn't give up either. "Growlie, fire blast!" Growlie continued to struggle against Pinsir's vice grip with Flareon's words ringing in his ears. Finally, Growlie took a deep breath and let out a fire blast at point blank, which knocked out Pinsir.

"Pinsir is unable to battle!" Jango announced, "the winner is Rose Mask!" The crowd cheered with many shouting flirty compliments at the mysterious Rose Mask.

"Return Pinsir, that was a valiant effort," Samurai called him back.

James took a vow for the crowd and made a few poses with his rose. Then he realized that Growlie was really having trouble staying on his feet because of all the damage received from Pinsir. Before the fire pokemon fainted, James called him back into his pokeball, "congratulations Growlie, I'm sure Flareon is very impressed."

"That was a very good battle, you've proven yourself to be a worthy adversary," Samurai congratulated honorably.

"Thank you Mr. Samurai, you're pretty good yourself!" After a few more poses, James returned to the waiting room and Samurai left.

Jessie received her husband with a deadly glare and hit him on the head, "show off!" She then stomped away and began to eat all the cookies the waiter in the green suit had recently brought and set on the table.

"Why are you mad at me?" James pouted, then sighed at Jessie's refusal to reply. "I have to get my pokemon healed, I'll be back soon." He looked at Meowth, "before I go, just out of curiosity, what was it that Flareon said before?"

Meowth made a scary face as he translated, with a menacing tone imitating Flareon, "if you lose this battle, you'll have to face my wrath!"

'Flareon really is the perfect pokemon for Jessie,' James thought as he went off to have his pokemon healed.

xoxox xox xoxox 

The activity at the Viridian city hall had slowly decreased. As James entered, he bumped into Brock, who was running away in sadness. They both stumbled backwards, but soon recognized each other. James couldn't help it but to notice Brock's depressed expression, "did you get dumped again?"

"You have no tact!" Brock cried, "she said I made it too easy so it was no fun to be with me. What does that mean? Am I cursed to forever be lonely? The world is a cruel place!" Once again Brock ran away.

James watched him disappear among the people outside, "poor guy..." He went over to the blond nurse who had witnessed the drama and seemed to be amused. She was the cause of the drama herself. "Hi, I have a Growlithe and Weezing in need of healing."

"I'm sure it's nothing serious," at least not compared to the injuries Laiki was used to treating, "I'll make them feel better in no time." She examined Weezing first, giving him some medicine to help him recover, "there now, you're okay," she petted the poison pokemon and returned him to his pokeball. She gave the pokeball back to James and asked, "have I seen you somewhere?"

James froze, the last thing he needed was to be discovered by the resident Rocket gossip expert. Not that there was anything wrong with his participation in the tournament. It's not like he was disclosing any information about Team Rocket, therefore he wasn't breaking his oath of silence. He just felt like avoiding Team Rocket altogether, deep down, he missed it. "I'm the mysterious Rose Mask! Maybe you have seen me or maybe you haven't, you can never be sure." He made a pose and tried to look like some kind of super hero on TV.

Laiki shrugged, "maybe not," she examined Growlie, gently pressing her hands on his mid section. The fire pokemon complained in response. "It seems he got pretty hurt out there," it was still not as bad as many of the injuries Laiki treated, but it was enough to be the highlight of her dull day. "You'll have to keep him out of battle for a while."

"Oh no! Is Growlie hurt badly? My poor Growlie!" James hugged his pokemon, which only caused Growlie to howl in pain from being squeezed in an Ursaring hug.

"Stop it you're just making it worse!" Laiki scolded, "it's not that bad, just make sure you let him rest." The undercover Rocket nurse bandaged the fire pokemon and sent the mysterious trainer on his way.

xoxox xox xoxox

James returned to the waiting room with Growlie in his arms rather then putting him in a pokeball. He got there just on time to hear Jessie being called out to the battle field.

"Our next battle will be an encounter between the mysterious Sailor Flame and the famous AJ!" Jango announced. "This will be a two on two battle. You may switch pokemon at any time, fight!"

"I'll win this just like all the other battles, go Arbok!" Jessie sent out her pokemon, she knew this wouldn't be easy. AJ had been dominating each of his battles so far.

Many people had heard of AJ and his pokemon gym. His training methods were very strict, which earned him the admiration of some and the scorn of others. Some thought he was too harsh with his pokemon. "I won't go easy on you, I choose Beedrill!"

"Don't expect any mercy from me either!" Jessie retorted, "Arbok, poison fang!" Arbok attempted to poison Beedrill, but Beedrill flew and dodged the attack.

"Beedrill, poison jab!" AJ commanded.

"Be careful Arbok, dodge it and use acid!" Despite Arbok being a poison type, being stabbed by Beedrill would still hurt a lot. The bug pokemon's stingers looked very sharp. Arbok struggled to dodge the hits while spitting acid as fast as he could, but Beedrill moved too fast. Beedrill managed to stab Arbok repeatedly, while Arbok's acid only graced the tip of his stingers. Even so, Arbok would not fall so soon, he kept trying to reach Beedrill with his acid.

"Arbok, back away and stay still," Jessie's new command surprised AJ. He wondered what the mysterious Sailor Flame was up to.

"Attack Beedrill, poison jab!" AJ insisted and Beedrill obeyed, flying towards Arbok.

"Now Arbok, iron tail!" With a loud battle cry, Arbok whipped his tail towards Beedrill and came close to hitting him. However, Beedrill dodged at the last second. Seeing as that strategy wouldn't work, Jessie decided to switch pokemon, "Arbok return, rest for a while, I might need to call you out later. Go Flareon, avenge Arbok with flame thrower!"

"Flare, flare!" Flareon was protective of her fellow pokemon. It was something she learned back when she was a shy Eevee and her big brother Pikachu would protect her. She threw out her flames, though Beedrill kept dodging the fire.

"Use hyper beam, Beedrill!" AJ was still feeling confident.

"Dodge it Flareon and use fire blast, fill the arena with fire!" Jessie was determined to win no matter what. Flareon's fire blast cancelled out Beedrill's hyper beam. 

"Time to finish this," AJ still had another strategy to try, "evasive maneuvers, get close and use hyper beam!" Beedrill flew in speedy zigzags towards Flareon preparing to shoot a hyper beam. At point blank Flareon couldn't counter it like before.

"Don't let Beedrill escape, fire blast!" When Beedrill was in range, Flareon suddenly bit into his leg, holding Beedrill down. Beedrill desperately stabbed Flareon. Before the bug pokemon could shoot the powerful hyper beam he had been preparing, Flareon let out a massive fire blast right into Beedrill, effectively ending his struggle.

"Beedrill!" AJ couldn't help it but to call out to his pokemon, who was not only unconscious, but also severely injured. "Return! You put up a great fight, don't worry, I'll get you to the Pokemon Center soon." The crowd loved the show. They were getting increasingly excited as the match became more heated.

"Hey Flareon, do you think you over did it?" Jessie watched as Flareon's breathing became labored, she was poisoned. "Take a break in your pokeball, Flareon return. Arbok, you're up again!" Jessie switched pokemon, giving Flareon some time to rest and sending out Arbok once more. Both her pokemon were in bad shape from that Beedrill. Yet she still had two pokemon, while AJ only had one. Jessie knew what to expect, he would surely send out that strong Sandslash he used in previous battles.

"I'll show you my strongest pokemon, go Sandslash!" Sandslash looked fierce and strong, much more intimidating than a Sandslash would normally look.

Jessie had a plan, Arbok would weaken Sandslash as much as possible to give Flareon time to rest. Then she would use their special secret strategy. For it to work, Flareon needed to recover first, she was a little too disheveled from the recent battle. "Arbok don't get too close, use acid!"

"Sandslash, defense curl!" Sandslash curled into a ball and though the acid hit its target, it had no effect. "Earthquake!" The entire Stadium shook with the force of Sandslash's attack.

"Endure it Arbok, you can do it!" Arbok struggled to stop himself from fainting. Years of fighting Pikachu and later training wild pokemon, had made him very resistant. 

"Don't stop, keep using Earthquake!" AJ insisted.

Up in the VIP balcony, Mayor Antilles fell out of his chair, "this is terrible, they're going to tare the stadium apart right before the elections! If this place is reduced to rubble, where will I give my next campaign speech?"

"If it falls apart it's your own fault for using cheap materials," Giovanni countered, focused on the match. He didn't recognize Sailor Flame, nor had he recognized Rose Mask.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" The mayor was clearly not enjoying the constant shaking. He was especially worried about how the arena's floor had become cracked and fissures had started to climb up the walls. 

"I like strong pokemon, why wouldn't I enjoy it?" Giovanni could have been thinking about sending agents out to steal those pokemon. He could have been thinking of what he would do if he were the one battling either trainer. He could have been thinking a lot of things. Yet the thought that occurred to him was how much he missed watching the Indigo League championships. Giovanni was usually too busy with Team Rocket. Battling amateurs who wanted badges made him forget what a real battle was supposed to feel like. 

Suddenly, he found himself looking forward to seeing the Indigo League's past champion in action. He wanted to see how strong Ash was. Giovanni didn't know anything else about him, save for a few details. His name was Ash, his home town was Pallet and one of his pokemon was a Pikachu. He didn't know Ash's lastname, information concerning the rest of his pokemon or any other details. Remembering the conversation with Delia earlier made Giovanni look forward to seeing Ash battle even more. 

In the battle arena, Arbok finally had all he could take. He had managed to buy Flareon a good amount of time. He lasted far longer than any other opponent had against Sandslash since he evolved. "Arbok return, you did very well. Don't worry, we'll get revenge for you, go Flareon!"

"I didn't expect your Arbok to last that long," AJ admitted, "but don't forget, Flareon is weak from the previous battle. Not that it would make a difference against Sandslash even if she was fully healed."

Flareon had groomed herself the best she could within the pokeball. She adjusted her ribbons tugging away the turn edges inside the folds of the bows. She licked her fur, much like an average Meowth would, to try to look as good as possible.

"Sandslash, giga impact!" Sandslash went on the attack at AJ's command. He dashed towards Flareon on the other side of the battle field.

"Use your secret weapon Flareon, just like we planned!" Jessie knew everything depended on this strategy. Using all the contest experience she had gained with Jessie to her favor, Flareon used attract. She looked absolutely adorable, cute and irresistible. For a moment Sandslash was captivated by her beauty and hesitated on his attack. "Overheat!" Flareon covered Sandslash with fire, struggling to keep her flaming breath going on for far longer than usual. She could sense that her opponent still had not fallen.

James was watching from the waiting room's window with Growlie in his arms. The pokemon was barking wildly in a fit of jealousy, yelling at Sandslash to keep his distance from Flareon. "Calm down Growlie!" James held on to him tightly.

Sandslash battled through the fire, trying to perform his own attack, heartbroken and angry. Flareon was at her last breath. When the fire ceased, another attack followed, "facade!" With one last brave effort, Flareon glowed as she launched herself at Sandslash like a lethal wild beast and finally defeated him. The crowd cheered loudly, with Jessie feeling very victorious at having obtained the biggest applause so far.

AJ stared at his unconscious pokemon in disbelief. Jango announced Sailor Flame as the winner. "Sandslash return, I guess we still have to train harder. That was an unexpected strategy, but none the less you won the match." AJ never thought his pokemon's lack of social life due to their constant training would create such a weakness towards the opposite gender.

"Nothing can beat the power of cuteness!" Jessie posed for the crowd that continued cheering.

Up in the VIP balcony, Giovanni was a bit disappointed with the trick, "of all the ways it could end..."

"You should never underestimate what a woman can do," Delia smiled.

"I know that already," Giovanni couldn't deny it but he still thought that Flareon used a cheap trick. Still, she was amazingly strong.

Mayor Antilles was shaking even after the earthquake ended. He kept shaking out of fear and worry, "I'm just glad it's over."

"It's not over yet, we still haven't seen the past Indigo League champion in a single battle. The real battles are about to start," Giovanni's reminder caused the mayor to faint.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 41: Give me Amusement

The trainers in the Viridian tournament continued to be eliminated until only four remained. It was clear that the champions would be called out to battle soon. Ash couldn't stay still, pacing around the waiting room. "I'm guessing you're more eager than nervous," Ritchie accurately theorized.

"Of course!" Ash happily exclaimed, "I'm so glad you're here. I was looking forward to my turn to battle before, but after I saw you, I just couldn't wait."

"It's ironic, when we were set to battle each other in the Indigo League years ago, you weren't too happy about it," Ritchie thought of the memories fondly.

"Yeah, but it's okay, because we can help each other improve and we'll both have fun," Ash smiled for a moment, then pouted impatiently again, "I just wish they would hurry up and call us or..."

Ritchie looked at Ash suspiciously, he had a sparkle of mischief in his eyes, "or?"

Ash grinned, "or we could have a practice match right here and now!"

Ritchie laughed, he should have expected such a crazy idea from Ash, he could have a wild side sometimes. "We'll get into trouble if we do that. Besides, I'm sure we'll get our chance soon."

Comet returned to the waiting room, replacing the empty tray of snacks with a new one. It was full of little triangle shaped mini-sandwiches with peanut butter and jelly in the middle. He handed a paper to Jango who had gone to the waiting room after the previous battle. It listed the lineup for the final four matches, not counting the bonus match that the winner would have against the Viridian City gym leader.

"Ritchie and Rose Mask," Jango read as he looked around the nearly empty waiting room for the two battlers.

"Here!" Jessie exclaimed as she pointed at James, who had his mouth full of mini-sandwiches. This caused Jango to jump in surprise; he didn't see Sailor Flame and Rose Mask make their way to the snack table. They could certainly eat.

"Looks like I'm up," Ritchie observed Ash's pouting face. Ash got there first but still hadn't been given a chance to battle. As mused that maybe his name was stuck on the bottom of whatever hat they were pulling the names out of. "C'mon, be a little more patient," Ritchie encouraged. "There are only four of us left, so you have to be in the next battle or the one after that at the latest."

"Alright, I'll wait a little longer," Ash agreed, though he still looked very impatient. He glanced at James who was stuffing his face, while he waited for Ritchie to lead the way into the arena. James, Jessie and Meowth loved free food. "Good luck to you both!" Ash spoke louder than needed, as if hinting he wanted the two combatants to go out and battle already. Ash expected Ritchie to win, but he also wanted to see James put up a good fight.

James choked on his last handful of mini-sandwiches. He was saved by Jessie, who patted him on the back harshly, but with good intentions. "In the words of Flareon, if you lose this battle, you'll have to face my wrath!"

James gulped, "Rose Mask will do his best!" Then he hurried after Ritchie. He left the bandaged Growlie on the table to eat the rest of the mini-sandwiches.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Out of all the trainers that had entered the tournament only four remain!" Jango announced as the crowd gathered in the Viridian Stadium cheered. 

Many of the spectators were once again screaming in delight at the return of the handsome Rose Mask. Others, who recognized Ritchie as the Indigo League champion from last year, cheered for him. They were filled with joyous surprise to see him there.

"For this semi-final match we have the mysterious Rose Mask versus a surprise guest. Here's the champion from last year's Indigo League competition, Ritchie!" The crowd went wild at the announcement, cheering and clapping even louder.

Up in the VIP balcony, Mayor Antilles began to have a nervous breakdown. "Why? I thought the only Indigo League champion was Ash. Why are there two of them?" He feared for his precious stadium, it could be torn apart.

"He must have been a late entry," Giovanni reasoned. He was pleased with the situation. Two champions meant double the power. After they faced off against each other, he would battle the strongest one.

"This is... this is..." it was so terrible that Rune Antilles couldn't find any words to describe it.

"Perfect," Giovanni supplied, it was much better than watching the Indigo League championships on TV. He had both of the champions from the previous two years right in front of him. He would have a real battle after such a long time.

Delia smiled at the newly added twist. She knew Ash was looking forward to battling Ritchie and was happy that he could. He had not been called out yet and it was obvious that Giovanni still didn't know who he was. She had a worrisome thought as she remembered Ash's expression during Giovanni's speech. Delia had calmed down and convinced herself that everything was alright. But what if it wasn't? What if Ash had left in confusion? "I'll be right back. I just have to check on something really quick."

"Are you going off to find shelter?" Rune suddenly asked. "Maybe I should do the same. Oh, but how is that going to look? If I come out as a coward who hides when ferocious pokemon appear, I'll lose the elections!" He paused, examining Delia's face with his panicked expression suddenly changing to perplexity, "have I seen you before?"

"Probably in the crowds," Delia made her way out of the VIP balcony and down the stairs. Giovanni made no motion to stop her. He was focused on the battle. He noticed her leave, but he knew she would return just as she said.

The mayor rubbed his chin, "hmm..." he had seen many people in many crowds, he was the mayor after all. He was used to giving political speeches in front of large audiences. Even if the speeches were never written by him. The mysterious woman who came with Giovanni seemed to stand out in his mind from somewhere else. 

Rune didn't remember that she was the same woman who had been at Giovanni's side when he first became gym leader. It was back when they started their secret negotiations with the help of the pokemon epidemic's antidote. Rune shrugged and decided to forget about it. 

"Since these are the semi-finals, new rules have been added to make things more interesting," Jango had continued his explanation. "The pokemon limit per trainer has been increased to three and substitutions will count against the trainers. Ready? Fight!" 

There was a moment of tension in which the audience grew eerily silent and Giovanni could hear an odd irregular sound. He looked at Rune who was pale and sweaty as he gripped the armrests of his chair. "Don't go into cardiac arrest so close to the elections," 'or any other kind of arrest,' he mentally added.

"Huh?" The mayor snapped out of his daze, "oh, yes, thanks for reminding me." Rune retrieved a small bottle from his pocket and swallowed a tiny pill, it was his heart medication. The sound of the mayor's heartbeats became more stable, though it was just as loud in the unfathomable silence.

The participation of Jessie and James, whom she recognized because of their pokemon, didn't come as too much of a surprise for Misty, but Ritchie's arrival was. As she sat in the audience, she almost expected a tumble weed to roll by as James and Ritchie engaged in a staring contest. It was reminiscent of Ash's contest with Samurai years ago when they waited for something to decide the battle between their Metapod. The most notable difference was that in the battle of Rose Mask versus Ritchie, neither had sent a pokemon out yet.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, in the waiting room, Ash stood near the window impatiently. The undercover Jessie, the bandaged Growlie and the recovered Flareon devoured all the food Comet brought. The trio had been temporarily joined by Pikachu, who retreated after snatching a couple of cupcakes. He offered one to Ash. Only Meowth understood Pikachu's remark about cooties, but he was used to Flareon and Growlie getting all cuddly and flirty.

Ash had finished his cupcake, contemplating that it was nowhere near as good as his mother's. The thought brought back his curiosity about why his mother was sitting with the mayor and gym leader. He pressed his face against the glass window, angling himself to try to see the balcony. He found that his mother was no longer there.

Seconds later, Delia entered the waiting room following Comet. He had gone to deliver more food, a pizza. The food kept getting better as trainers were eliminated. It was part of mayor Antilles' plan to butter up the winner into putting in a good word for him. 

Jessie and Meowth jumped on the pizza immediately. It caused Growlie to whimper, and Meowth to make room for him to grab a slice in his mouth. The slice was playfully stolen by Flareon, who also stole a kiss in the process. Meowth backed away; maybe he wasn't used to this after all. Jessie on the other hand was fascinated. She paused her eating in favor of staring at the cute couple of fire pokemon adoringly.

"Ash," Delia called softly, her voice ringing out clearly in the absolute silence.

Ash turned around to face her, "mom! I was wondering why you disappeared from the balcony. Why were you up there?" Ash's curiosity presented no worries, only puzzlement.

Delia knew right away Ash's surprise during Giovanni's speech must have been entirely due to seeing her and not due to recognizing Giovanni. "The gym leader and I are," she corrected, "were," she paused and rephrased her reply, "I met Giovanni a long time ago and we were catching up. We haven't seen each other in years."

"Oh, so that's it!" Ash concluded, then elaborated noting Delia's confusion, "I had this feeling that I've seen the gym leader somewhere before, even if I didn't battle him for an Earth badge. I thought it might have been on TV, on a magazine or something, but that didn't feel right. You said you haven't seen each other in a long time; did he visit when I was very young? I can't remember where I've seen him before, but I know I have."

"No, he never visited," there was a hint of bitterness in Delia's voice. She forced herself to smile to make up for it. "Maybe you remember him from somewhere else." Sometimes the answer could be right in front of a person, but they would not see it unless they looked straight at it. It seemed that the picture of the man Delia confessed had been her boyfriend was yet to surface in Ash's mind. "You shouldn't think about it now, just focus on your coming battle."

Ash nodded in agreement, full of excitement once more, "yeah!"

Delia smiled sincerely, seeing her son so cheerful. He was that way for every competition. She would forever share that same enthusiasm to watch him participate in one pokemon tournament after another. "I just wanted to wish you good luck. I really should be going back to my seat now."

"Thanks!" Ash cheered, "I'll try my best and I'll win," then he could get Misty a ring that would make her jump into his arms in absolute joy. He wanted it to amaze her.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia returned to the VIP balcony and took her seat next to Giovanni, who was looking very impatient. Noticing her presence he commented, "they say that when the eyes of two pokemon trainers meet, a duel between them is destined to happen. I just wish they would get on with it."

"I'm sure one of them will have to blink eventually, try to be patient," the last four words were spoken with the same tone Delia would use for Ash. She remembered how Giovanni and Ash's eyes met when Giovanni was giving his speech. Perhaps their battle would be a true duel. Delia couldn't decide how she felt about that.

In the battle arena, Ritchie inevitably blinked, "ha!" James pointed at him with his rose. He finally shattered the silence that loomed over the stadium. "I saw that!" He declared in what he thought was a heroic tone, "you blinked, I won!"

"How did we get into a staring contest anyway?" Ritchie blinked again, this time repeatedly in confusion. "Either way, it's impossible to tell if you're blinking or not behind your mask. That doesn't matter; this is a pokemon battle, so let's battle!" Ritchie threw out a pokeball, "Sebastian, I choose you!" A strong looking Kingler came from the pokeball's red beam.

"I won the staring contest," James lied, he had been blinking behind the mask, "and I'll win this battle too!" He threw out a pokeball as well, "Rose Mask calls upon Weezing!" This would be a difficult match and James couldn't count on Growlie, who had been injured earlier. He tried to look and sound as cool as possible, hoping that it would somehow empower him and his pokemon.

"Sebastian," Ritchie called out to his Kingler, "use crab hammer!"

"Dodge it Weezing, go higher and use smoke screen!" James posed with his rose as he instructed his pokemon. Sebastian dashed forward with his pincers ready to smash into Weezing. The poison pokemon floated away hastily and covered the battle field in smoke. 

"Blow away that smoke with blizzard!" Ritchie urged. His Kingler obeyed, unleashing a powerful blizzard upon the battle field. It chilled the air and blew away the smoke. "Good, now use crab hammer!"

"Get out of the way Weezing!" Weezing had lowered his floating, shielded by the smoke screen as he prepared to launch a sneak attack at James' command. The poison pokemon was quick to gain altitude once more. It was rather comical to watch Sebastian leap into the air trying to hit Weezing with his largest pincer. Weezing continued to float, unreachable above the jumping Kingler.

"Sebastian, get Weezing down with a bubble beam!" Ritchie's change in strategy worked. The bubbles hit their target, causing Weezing to have trouble floating due to the constant hits. The attack also left him in a half-fainted daze.

"No Weezing, don't go down, go up, up!" As much as Weezing wanted to do what he was told, he could not. 

The poison pokemon helplessly landed exhausted on the cracked floor of the battle field. Ritchie was quick to take the opportunity, "let's finish this, Sebastian!"

As Sebastian dashed forward to smash Weezing with his pincers, James desperately called out, "self destruct!" At least Weezing would take that persistent Kingler down with him; that was what James had in mind.

Ritchie reacted quickly, "dig!" Weezing exploded and the arena was filled with light and toxic smoke. It was impossible to see if Sebastian had evaded the attack on time by hiding underground. 

When the smoke finally cleared, Weezing lay unconscious in a crater on the floor. The sight made mayor Antilles whimper in pain, witnessing the additional damage to the stadium. Sebastian came into view seconds later, digging himself out from the ground. The mayor noticed that the powerful Kingler had used his strong pincers to break the cracked floor and dig a hole. He took another heart pill and tried to endure the distressing sight without fainting again.

"Weezing is unable to battle!" Jango exclaimed.

"Weezing!" James cried out, dramatically reaching out for his fallen comrade. He retrieved Weezing's pokeball from his belt and called him back, "return!" Then, tapping his red rose on the pokeball he declared, "I shall avenge you!" The crowd went wild, much to Jessie's annoyance in the waiting room lobby.

As he watched the so called battle, Giovanni complained, "first a staring contest and now a soap opera? I thought the battles were finally getting good, but it looks like things won't get serious until the two Indigo League champions face each other." The mayor gasped for air, his breathing becoming more labored by the second. The noise annoyed Giovanni, who had been put in a bad mood due to the silly turn the battle had taken. "Can't you have a heart attack quietly?" He snapped.

"Giovanni, that's mean!" Delia scolded Giovanni, then looked at the mayor with worry.

Rune's face continued to pale, but his breathing stabilized, at least temporarily. "I know who you are," he recognized Delia. "You were there, in all those events long ago, in the parties, you were there," he stuttered.

"Don't try to speak now, just focus on your breathing," Delia instructed in a motherly tone.

"It is you, right?" Mayor Antilles continued, "you were Giovanni's lover!"

"Rune," Giovanni growled, causing the mayor to jump in his chair and look at him, "shut up."

"Yes, sir!" Rune squeaked, then remained quiet after that. He kept fidgeting worriedly in his chair and twisting the ends of his large mustache. The mustache used to be black, even after his hair had turned white, but was now white to match it.

In the battle arena, James sent out his next pokemon, "go Victreebel! I mean, Rose Mask summons Victreebel, avenge our fallen comrade!" James had met many Victreebel over time. Some were his own and others were pokemon he took care of at the day care center he and Jessie had in Saffron City. 

Something that never changed was that each Victreebel James had taken care of had a peculiar habit of trying to eat people or pokemon. Some tried to eat James, others tried to eat Jessie, several tried to eat Meowth and one had made the mistake of trying to eat Flareon. That last one became the only one to be cured of the habit, though he would only be able to eat soft pokemon food for the rest of his life.

The particular Victreebel that James called out to battle had the habit of trying to eat people at random. She let out a high pitch screech that made Jango, James, Ritchie and the first few rows of people in the audience cringe and cover their ears. It signaled the start of her chase. The grass pokemon hopped right out of the battling area and towards Jango, who was refereeing from the sidelines. "What are you doing?" Jango backed away.

"Run!" James urged hastily in alarm.

Jango wasted no more time and dashed away. He ran in circles around the battle arena. James hurried after them, trying to calm his berserk pokemon. "Stop Victreebel, the referee is not food!" 

Watching the disaster play out from the window, Jessie grumbled, "you idiot."

Giovanni was angered by the ridiculous scene, "this is turning into a circus show," he criticized.

In contrast, Delia was having fun, "I know!" She laughed.

"Well," Rune let out a breath, "as long as they don't cause any more harm to the stadium, it's okay."

Unfortunately for Jango, he wasn't fast enough to evade Victreebel and soon found himself inside her mouth up to his waist, with his legs flailing in the air. "Oh no! Oh no!" James tried to pull Jango out and Ritchie rushed to help while the spectators' laughter echoed.

Between James and Ritchie, they managed to pull Jango out of Victreebel's mouth. The grass pokemon was quick to choose a new victim, attacking Ritchie instead. Ritchie was caught off guard and suffered the same fate as Jango before he could even try to run away. Trapped in Victreebel's mouth, Ritchie called out for help. Distressed over the peril of his trainer, Sebastian attempted to free Ritchie by sending a flood of bubbles their way. The action only made matters worse when not only Victreebel, but also the three men suffered from the attack.

Unable to pull Ritchie out of Victreebel's mouth, James had no choice but to call her back into her pokeball, before Ritchie suffocated. "Victreebel return!" In a beam of red light, Victreebel faded away into her pokeball, leaving Ritchie to fall face first on the floor. "Sorry about that, are you going to be alright?"

Still a little dizzy, Ritchie nodded, "I think so... It's okay, accidents happen," he struggled to stay on his feet and made his way to his side of the arena.

James returned to his own side of the battle field and Jango stood at the sidelines. "Since Victreebel was recalled, Rose Mask only has one pokemon left."

James sighed sadly and the audience that had previously been laughing, chorused an, "aw!"

"Rose Mask never gives up!" James held his rose up high in a sudden change of attitude from sad to determined. "I summon..." he looked towards the window where Jessie, Flareon, Growlie and Meowth were watching, "Meowth!"

"What?" The talking pokemon gasped. Before Meowth could further protest, Growlie escaped and ran into the battle field. 

"Growlie?" James stared in surprise. "You can't, you're hurt!"

"If you call back your pokemon, you will be forfeiting the match," Jango reminded. He was in no mood to be lenient after his traumatic Victreebel experience.

"Growlithe, growl!" Growlie bravely declared.

Even if the fire pokemon didn't speak the human language, James understood that Growlie wanted to help him. "Growlie!" He emotionally exclaimed, "alright, let's do this, flame thrower!"

"Counter with bubble beam!" Ritchie quickly commanded. The two opposing powers collided. Surprisingly, the bubbles were extinguished into vapor by the flames that barely diminished. The attack was not very effective, but it still caused Sebastian pain due to all the strength and energy Growlie put into it. 

"Bite him Growlie!" James cheered, watching his loyal pokemon dash forward.

"Crab hammer!" Ritchie called out, expecting the strategy to work. However, Growlie moved out of the way of Sebastian's pincers and jumped over him. He spun around quickly and bit one of Kingler's thin legs.

Growlie was fighting with an injury and the strain was too much for him, he released Sebastian and collapsed. Sebastian was left in a pained daze, swaying from side to side unable to find his balance. "Growlie!" James was distressed; he knew Growlie shouldn't be battling in his condition.

"Growlithe is unable to battle," Jango announced, "the victor is Ritchie!" He declared with satisfaction.

"Flareon!" Flareon screamed as she ran into the battle field, "flareon flare!" She raged at Sebastian and released a blast of fire that finished knocking him out, but her breath of fire didn't cease.

"Stop it, Sebastian can't defend himself anymore!" Ritchie quickly recalled his unconscious and burnt pokemon to the safety of his pokeball. The pokeball had a star sticker on it, as all of Ritchie's pokeballs did.

"Flareon, flare!" Flareon directed her anger at Ritchie, whom she blamed for the state Growlie was in.

"No, Flareon!" Jessie, still in her Sailor Flame disguise, rushed into the battle field along with Meowth to try to calm the turmoil. First Flareon threatened to beat up Growlie if he lost, then she got all cuddly and sweet. Next, she became protective and rushed out to attack Growlie's opponents, even threatening the trainer. Jessie knew something was going on with Flareon. She would be frying Ritchie if Jessie wasn't blocking the way.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. Alderaan is a planet from Star Wars. One of Jessie's disguises, Jessadia (Pretty Musalin in Japanese), is a parody of Sailor Moon, here she has a modified version of that disguise. James parodies Tuxedo Mask to match Jessie and because of the rose he often had while reciting the Team Rocket motto in the first series. Samurai and AJ are minor characters who appear in the anime's first season. Ritchie's Kingler, Sebastian, is named after the crab from The Little Mermaid.


	11. Part 11

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 42: Give me Emotion

"Growlie?" The orange pokemon whimpered softly, "you're okay, right? Please tell Flareon you're okay." James pleaded.

"Flare!" Flareon rushed to Growlie's side, crying abundantly and licked his face gently. "Flare, flareon, flare!"

"Now she's crying?" Jessie watched in shock while Meowth went through one of the few occasions in his life in which he was speechless. No one could make heads or tails of Flareon's extreme mood swings. Wait, mood swings... "Flareon, sweetie," Jessie knelt down beside the pokemon, "you're going to lay an egg, aren't you?" Flareon nodded her head, her tears ceasing. "It's alright, we can go home now. You and Growlie should rest; there will be other chances to battle. I have a good guess who our opponent would have been," it had to be Ash, since he had not been called out to battle yet, "we can battle him any time. Let's go home, do it for the baby's sake," Jessie voiced gently.

Flareon nodded in agreement, she wanted to stay and continue battling, but Jessie convinced her to go home for her child's sake. Jessie understood Flareon had been pushing herself and endured a harsh battle despite her condition. Now she had the accumulated fatigue from the previous fight and her subsequent recovery from poisoning. The effect on her body of having to spare energy to feed the egg within her and her worries about her injured mate all piled up. Jessie didn't want Flareon to have to battle while dealing with all that. 

Jessie knew the other pokemon would understand if they returned home before the tournament ended. She was looking forward to playing nurse and helping take care of the baby when it hatched. She glanced at Ritchie who seemed to understand. Then she looked at the stunned Jango and informed him, "I'm leaving the tournament to take care of our pokemon. Continue without me."

At first, Jango could do nothing except nod dumbly. Then, as Sailor Flame, Rose Mask and their pokemon left the arena, he woke from the daze he was left in after the commotion. The referee spoke into the little microphone that extended from his earpiece over his mouth, "Sailor Flame has forfeited the tournament. This means that only two participants remain: Ritchie, the winner of the Indigo League championship from last year, and the challenger, who is also a champion. He won the Indigo League tournament two years ago... Ash! Many thought they would have to wait until this year's Indigo League to see the two champions face each other. The wait is over, it will happen today, right here in the Viridian Stadium!"

Ash ran out of the lobby and into the arena when he was called. The crowd cheered wildly, looking forward to the battle of champions. Jango continued with his announcements and explanations, "it's a three on three match with no substitutions. Additionally, if a pokemon leaves the battle area, that pokemon will be disqualified and must be recalled into the pokeball immediately," it was a hastily added rule, but Jango didn't care if he got into trouble for it. He didn't want to relive his Victreebel experience. "Ready? Fight!"

"Charmander, I choose you!" Ash was the first to eagerly throw out a pokeball.

The red beam from the ball took shape as the basic Kanto starter pokemon of fire. He looked very eager to battle, "char! Char!" Far from looking menacing, he looked cute.

Ritchie studied Ash's choice in pokemon. The Charmander was clearly very young. He was still smaller than an average one, with big innocent blue eyes. "I know appearances can be deceiving and I intend to try my best!" Ritchie took note of the flame on Charmander's tail and realized it was too big for such a tiny pokemon. No doubt about it, the little Charmander had to be strong. He sent out his first pokemon, determined to seriously try to win. Vaporeon was just the pokemon to help him accomplish that. "Aqua, I choose you!"

"I'll try my best too," Ash didn't look at all worried about the type disadvantage. He knew Charmander, albeit very young, was amazingly strong.

From the balcony, Giovanni watched the battle arena below. The presence of Charmander surprised him. He expected to see nothing but fully evolved pokemon on a champion's team. For a moment he wondered if the Indigo League was just over-rated, but he decided to keep an open mind. If there truly was something special about Ash, he would soon find out. It might turn into an interesting battle after all. He had Delia to thank for rediscovering his love for challenging pokemon battles. Giovanni didn't plan to watch the tournament. He originally intended to make an appearance in the beginning to give a speech, sneak off to work on his world domination plans, then return on time for the bonus round in which he would participate.

The mayor swallowed another heart pill. He didn't want to overdose, but he didn't want his heart to burst from the stress. "I'm too old for this," he complained pitifully.

"None sense, all that matters is being young at heart," Delia tried to encourage him, she felt truly sorry for Rune, seeing his worried expression.

"That's the problem," Rune whimpered, "my heart isn't young."

"Stop complaining," Giovanni interrupted; Rune had always been a wimp in his opinion.

Mayor Antilles pouted indignantly, "you know, my heart only started failing me after that time you almost killed me," he reminded in a low raspy voice.

Delia gasped in angry shock, "Giovanni!" She scolded upset, though she didn't know what else to say or do, except to glare.

"It was many years ago," Giovanni calmly stated with indifference.

"What happened?" Delia insisted on knowing.

Giovanni brushed off the inquiry and it was the mayor who replied, "it was indeed a long time ago, but I never fully recovered. I was having second thoughts about a business deal and was kindly expressing my concerns."

"Whining," Giovanni corrected with annoyance.

Mayor Antilles cleared his throat and continued, "as I was saying, I was expressing my concerns about a business deal. I guess it must have been a bad day for Giovanni. He seemed to be angry at the entire world on that day, except his Meowth." Rune glanced at Persian, who had been quietly purring next to Giovanni during the entire tournament, as his trainer petted him. "The point is that when I cautioned him about his business practices, Giovanni lost his temper and punched me really hard. He broke my ribs and nearly caused a piece to be stabbed internally into my heart. Fortunately, I was taken to the hospital on time and they removed the rib fragment that had come off. I was saved, but the fragment managed to scratch my heart a little. I've had a weak heart since then, albeit my worries generally decreased after that."

"You poor man," Delia frowned in pity, but there was something she didn't quite understand, "why were your worries less after that? Did the near death experience make you reevaluate your life?" She inquired with puzzlement, then caught herself in an old habit, 'no, don't do that again,' Delia mentally scolded herself. Even after so many years apart from him, Delia felt like she was falling into her old habit of twisting things around to justify Giovanni.

"Well, not exactly," Rune confessed, "I just realized that Giovanni was scary enough to deal with any troublesome people that might complain. I concluded there was nothing to worry about after all." After a short moment of reflection, the mayor added, "now that I think about it, the last time I saw you with Giovanni was before that happened."

"Rune," Giovanni growled, causing mayor Antilles to give him a worried look, "shut up," he ordered once more.

"Yes, sir," Rune once again complied and remained silent for some time.

Delia thought about what the mayor had revealed. The time he referred to might have been an event that happened right after she left. Was that the reason Giovanni was in such a bad mood that day. "Gio... When you punched the mayor back then, the reason you were angry, was it because..."

"Is there a point to this conversation?" Giovanni found it to be useless and irritating, but Delia looked insistent. He knew she wouldn't back down until he answered her question. He did, though not directly, "it seems you haven't dropped your habit of blaming yourself for everything."

Delia stared at Giovanni for a moment, then smiled, which caught him off guard. Studying his puzzled expression, she clarified, "I'm only glad you're not indifferent," angry seemed to be a little better than completely uncaring, even if it was unfortunate for mayor Antilles. "It was still wrong, what you did to the mayor," Delia added, "but you're right, it happened many years ago." Even so, Delia wanted to sit down for hours and catch up on everything. Yet she seriously doubted Giovanni would ever do that.

Rune opened his mouth to speak, lifting his index finger as if indicating he was about to make an important point. Then he wisely decided to keep his questions and comments to himself and remained silent. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair and gripped the armrests in tension. Both Giovanni and Delia turned their attention back to the battle.

Jango had implemented a new rule that stated that pokemon would be disqualified if they left the battling area. The rules before that had been rather lenient to keep the contestants as happy as possible. However, there was nothing Jango could say about the pokemon's attacks remaining within the designated area. 

The Viridian Stadium clearly wasn't built for strong pokemon battles. Average battles were fine, but the field wasn't big enough for true power. Many of the people in the first, second and even third rows in the audience had to dodge stray fire balls and beams of water. When the water hit them it was at least refreshing, though still annoying and often painful. The lethal fire would be another story.

The people in the first few rows didn't know when a fireball would fly their way, how far it would go and how strong it would be. Some got on their feet, ready to move away any minute, while others tried to retreat, pushing back the people behind them. With those in the front rows standing up, the people in the rows behind them had to stand up as well. Soon the entire attendance of the stadium, save for those in the balcony, were on their feet.

Charmander was agile and avoided Vaporeon's water gun, even if the water pokemon was also fast and many members of the audience were soaked. "Flame thrower!" Ash commanded with a glow in his eyes that hinted he had a plan.

"Water gun!" Ritchie countered. The two attacks collided and it looked like Vaporeon was winning. Ritchie noticed that Charmander's tail flame was growing, "watch out Aqua, don't lower your guard. Make the water gun stronger, give it everything you have!" It was best not to give the little Charmander the chance to prepare his attack.

The water gun intensified, but so did the flame thrower. The opposing forces produced a curtain of steam that swallowed the whole stadium. "Overheat!" Ash called out and the fire coming from the small Charmander intensified further.

Ritchie couldn't see the battle behind the thick veil of steam, but he could hear Aqua's water gun becoming weaker. "Aqua, push that fire back with everything you have, then get out of the way!" The Vaporeon trusted in his trainer and followed the commands perfectly, managing to dodge the fire. Ritchie saw a bright light and jumped out of the way. The fire that Charmander had been pushing against Aqua's water gun blasted through the steam. It went past Ritchie and into the wall behind him. Sparks and rubble flew all around on impact. The spectators in that area screamed and panicked, hastily stumbling to get away, pushing the people around them.

Misty was feeling very uncomfortable in the audience. She could only compare the experience to a time when she went to an outdoor concert with Ash and Brock. The singer's name was Akira, a woman rumored to be involved with Team Rocket. Brock insisted on going and not surprisingly, he fell in love with Akira. She was admired by many, who claimed she had the elegance of a Ninetails along with its imposing presence. Brock claimed Akira was the image of perfection. From her sweet voice to her sky colored hair, emerald eyes, pearl smile and flawless snow skin. He was nearly crushed to death as he helplessly tried to reach the stage during the concert.

On top of worrying that Brock might do something crazy and end up with a few broken bones, Misty also had Pikachu to worry about. The powerful yellow pokemon had shocked the people around him, Ash and Misty included, several times when he felt suffocated. Displeased remarks and foul words followed the electric shocks. It made Ash lose his temper and yell back, even if he knew he was walking right into a fight.

While all of that had been happening, Misty was thrown around in the mush pit of fans, shoved, elbowed and kicked by the multitude. She was driven over the edge and joined Ash in releasing her pokemon to fight off the overwhelming crowd. It got worse when Akira's back up dancers revealed themselves to be Team Rocket agents. They took advantage of the mayhem to try to steal from the crowd. The theft was a failure; the situation was far too out of control for the Rockets to make their way through the chaos.

In the end, Team Rocket fled, many people where injured and abundant bones were broken. That included Brock's right arm and left leg. Somehow, the pokemon breeder was satisfied with the experience. He almost made it onto the stage before Akira herself violently sent him away with a kick to the face and a broken nose. He was delirious with a stupid smile for a while, chanting, "she touched me," even if it was with the bottom of her boot.

Misty escaped the commotion with many bruises and cuts, but her most serious injury was a sprained ankle. By some miracle, Misty and Ash survived without broken bones, albeit Ash had to get stitches for a cut he got on his right arm.

Even if Akira was revealed as a member of Team Rocket, she still had concerts, which were troublesome. It was still better than dealing with a riot of her fans if the police took direct action against her. The casualties would be far more numerous then.

xoxox xox xoxox

As the battle raged on, Charmander became cocky, despite his opponent being a powerful Vaporeon. The small fire pokemon refused to listen to Ash, instead running around the arena, wagging his flaming tail and making faces at Aqua.

The display caused the audience to go from astonishment and fright to amusement and laughter. Giovanni recognized the power of the tiny Charmander, but he could certainly use more training. 

"What have you figured out so far?" Delia inquired with curiosity. She theorized that Giovanni didn't know too much yet.

"What do you mean?" Giovanni looked away from the battle for a moment. They weren't really battling like before; Charmander was just running around making fun of his opponent.

"You have that analytical look in your eyes. I can tell you're trying to gather as much information as you can from watching the battle and the trainers." Delia found that she could still read Giovanni after all. She just needed to spend a little time with him to remember how it was done. "You're looking for information, have you found anything yet?"

Giovanni gave his observations some thought and began to construct a profile. "Charmander is young and needs more training, but he's very strong. Ash is a good trainer and has powerful pokemon."

"His pokemon are strong, that is true, but they grew with Ash's guidance," Delia elaborated, "what I mean is, simply having strong pokemon isn't enough. It doesn't just happen; they have to be raised to be strong."

Giovanni didn't comment on the lecture. He was still puzzled as to what role that young man could possibly play that made Delia return to Viridian City. "I would say he's a risk taker," anyone who would send out a pokemon that was not properly trained couldn't have a problem with taking risks. "He's stubborn, I can just tell."

Delia couldn't help it but to laugh, "you're absolutely right about that, Ash is very stubborn, just like you. He really likes pokemon and sometimes his winning streaks go to his head. Even if he has a mischievous side, he's a very caring person."

Giovanni didn't catch the true meaning behind Delia's comment about stubbornness and instead pointed out, "you're pretty stubborn yourself." He didn't wish to wait any longer, "whatever it is you wanted to tell me about him, I don't think I can figure it out just by watching the battle after all. Besides, this is turning into a circus show again," Giovanni complained impatiently.

Delia sighed, "so impatient," she kept her expression neutral as she spoke, "like father, like son."

"What do you mean?" Giovanni had no suspicions about Ash, he didn't show any hints of surprise.

Delia looked towards the battle arena, "he's a lot like his father. He's a bit more playful, but he's stubborn, strong and can get a little cocky unless someone is there to keep his feet on the ground. Most of all, he's determined, cunning and has a deep desire to be the very best." Delia paused and looked at Giovanni again, his puzzlement surfacing with a hint of curiosity. With a secretive tone she voiced, "Charmander."

Giovanni turned his attention to the battle once more, "I still say he needs more training." Giovanni observed Ash and his subconscious seemed to realize something he couldn't quite fully grasp. Ash reminded him of someone.

After a lot of running around, Charmander was finally getting tired from too much showing off. "Aqua, use hydro pump!" Ritchie called out, it was time to finish the battle.

Charmander stood his ground, despite Ash's expression becoming alarmed in realization, "no, don't do that!" It was too late, Charmander jumped backwards and sliced through the hydro pump's blast of water with iron tail. The end of his flaming tail collided harshly with the exhausted Vaporeon's head and finally knocked him out. "Charmander, why? Aqua was tired; you could have finished him off with an attack that didn't leave you so exposed to damage!"

"Charmander char!" Charmander dizzily argued as if trying to say he would do whatever he wanted. "Char..." he fainted as well.

"Vaporeon and Charmander are unable to battle! So far the match is a tie; both trainers each have two pokemon remaining!" Jango announced, he was just glad the chaos of fire and water was over. He hoped the next pokemon they sent out were not so dangerously destructive.

Ash called Charmander back into his pokeball, at the same time as Ritchie recalled his Vaporeon. Ritchie looked across the battle field at Ash, "tell me something Ash," he curiously inquired, "is that Charmander related to your Charizard from our first Indigo League competition?"

"You noticed," Ash laughed sheepishly, "you're right, Charmander is Charizard's son. I guess I still need to train him more. Speaking of Charizard, he listens to me now and he's my next pokemon, "Charizard, I choose you!"

"This will be an interesting battle," Ritchie anticipated, "I choose Zippo!" Another Charizard emerged from Ritchie's pokeball. 

Ash's Charizard blew smoke rings as he smirked confidently. Zippo frowned at the arrogant attitude and waited for Ritchie's command. Both trainers called out in unison, "heat wave!" The pokemon sprang into action immediately, blasting each other with fire. More flames escaped the battling area when the two beams of fire collided and sparks flew in every direction.

"It's getting more destructive!" Mayor Antilles couldn't hold his silence any longer, not that anyone was listening to him, anyway. Giovanni, Delia and even Persian had their eyes glued to the battle field. "At least we're safe up here," the mayor thought aloud. He was soon proven wrong when the trainers instructed their pokemon to use aerial ace and fire blitz. That took the battle to the air with flames being ignited all over the place.

The abundant harsh fire attacks caused the stadium to catch aflame. The fire didn't dissolve after leaving an indentation in the walls, it was too strong and it spread and grew. People screamed in a panic and scrambled to get away from it. The security system activated and the sprinklers began to throw water all over the stadium, some spraying on the combating pokemon. They were too strong to be weakened that easily, thus the water only gave them discomfort and made them cranky. That caused their battle to turn more violent.

Giovanni glared at Rune in absolute fury, "you idiot! Whose idea was it to install this many sprinklers!" He was getting all wet along with everyone else. Persian had taken shelter under his chair to stay as dry as possible.

"I'm sorry!" Rune cried in fear and stress.

The massive battle continued, causing pandemonium in the stadium. The two trainers were focused on the fight, as if locked in a trance. "Fire blast," Ritchie called out.

At the same time Ash guided his Charizard with a different attack, "blast burn!" The flames collided with each other, with Ash's Charizard prevailing over Zippo.

Zippo was not going down without a fight and tried to blast back as much fire as he could, which Charizard returned. It resulted in a giant blast of fire, with flames raining upon the stadium. Mayhem ensued as people pushed and shoved others aside to abandon the blazing stadium.

Zippo fought to stay conscious while Ash told his Charizard to use "seismic toss!" Zippo and Charizard exchanged additional blasts of fire during the entire process. Finally, Charizard sent Zippo crashing to the ground. The impact not only caused Zippo to faint, but also shook the entire stadium. It further expanded the already severe damage the structure had sustained.

Ritchie called Zippo back to his pokeball with words of gratitude. The two trainers snapped out of their trance and noticed the destruction around them. "We messed up, didn't we?" Ritchie acknowledged.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 43: Give me Priorities

Ash couldn't see Misty in the wild crowd of fleeing people, only a few stayed at the stadium. Even without seeing her, Ash knew Misty would be upset. He looked towards the balcony to find his mother glaring with disapproval. Ash also saw that the gym leader was smirking, as if he was amused by the chaos. Well, at least someone was happily enjoying the show. 

The sprinklers did their job and finally put out the flames. After the threat had passed, people began to settle back into their seats, many sporting new bruises. A considerable number of people had left, so at least the audience wasn't suffocating any more. Ash finally spotted Misty, she was scowling. 

Taking a deep breath, Ash decided to try to be optimistic, "maybe if we put on a good show they'll forgive us. At least the gym leader looks happy; he understands what battling is like." Ash smiled up at Giovanni and gave a thumbs up. The gym leader seemed to be the only one who wasn't upset by the destruction. 

Giovanni found the gesture to be puzzling. Yet he knew that the possible destruction of the stadium was not what Delia came to tell him about Ash.

"Do you really think they'll let us continue?" Ritchie's question took Ash's attention from Giovanni back to the battle field. 

For a split second, Ash had been close to recognizing Giovanni when his expression had changed. He was certain he had seen that confident smirk somewhere before and he had seen it recently. Ash once again let it go for the time being. He examined the damage around them, trying to come up with some kind of justification for it, "it is a battle so-"

"I'm disqualifying him," Jango trembled as he pointed at Ash's Charizard, interrupting the trainer's excuse.

"Why?" Ash argued, refusing to accept the referee's choice.

"Too destructive!" Jango flailed his arms around as he backed away. The day had been too much for him and he was losing his head.

"No one got hurt... seriously." Ash tried to make the situation sound as positive as possible, though it was difficult. Charizard nodded his head eagerly at Ash's argument; he didn't want to be disqualified.

"Too dangerous!" Jango pointed at Charizard, still shaking in fear.

Comet stepped out to the arena, "you may leave," he told Jango, who wasted no time in dashing away. "I will referee the final battle of this match, but I'm afraid Charizard will still be disqualified." Comet calmly pointed towards where Charizard stood, specifically at his tail.

Charizard looked at his own tail, Ash and Ritchie examined its position as well. "Oh, your tail is outside the lines," Ash admitted, "well, I guess those are the rules, you can't step out of the battling area." Charizard's jaw dropped as he pointed an accusing clawed finger at Ash. He growled and roared as if blaming his trainer for not properly warning him about that. "I'm sorry!" Ash hastily apologized to Charizard, "it's okay, you were a great help! Let Pikachu do the rest, alright?" After exchanging a few words in their own language, Charizard returned to his pokeball and Pikachu went out to the battle field.

"The battle of Ash versus Ritchie will continue," Comet announced, "for his final pokemon, Ash has chosen Pikachu, who will battle against," he paused dramatically, allowing Ritchie to finish.

"Sparky!" Ritchie's own Pikachu was sent to the battle field. It was the battle that would decide the tournament.

Giovanni continued observing everything; he thought it was odd that Ash apologized to his pokemon. He couldn't picture anyone doing so, except maybe Delia, but she was a special case. She cared about pokemon very much, that was how they met, that was how many things happened.

The two Pikachu stared at each other from across the arena, with sparks already flying from their hot red cheeks. Soon the stadium was filled with electricity and the fact that the sprinklers had only recently been turned off didn't make it any safer. The many fissures, indentations and holes in the stadium were filled with water and puddles were scattered all around. The members of the audience who were brave enough to stay and watch the battle to the end were soaked.

The Indigo Plateau was extremely big, allowing for plenty of empty space between the audience and the battle field. Not stepping out of the battle field was a standard rule. The Viridian Stadium was much smaller. The structure was not safe for true pokemon battles. It lacked the enforced architecture, seismic proof strength and high tech energy absorption machinery that the Viridian Gym possessed. 

The Viridian Gym would have proven to be a much safer place to have an all out pokemon battle, but it was not a place where a large crowd could witness it. It only made matters worse that the stadium's structure was indeed poorly built with cheap low quality materials. The foundations of the building were fragile and if there was another earthquake, it might cause the building to crumble.

The two electric pokemon continued their battle. Their electric attacks sometimes reached the audience, despite it having become small enough to be able to back away to the final rows. "Thunder!" "Thunderbolt!" "Thundershock!" The attack names were called out constantly, and there wasn't a single moment in which the stadium wasn't lit up by the abundant electricity.

Mayor Antilles watched the match in a trance, "I just got an idea," he muttered, short of breath, "a grand idea!" He pushed himself to raise the volume of his voice enough to be heard. "We could use pokemon to provide the city with electrical power, it would be much cheaper!"

"We're already doing that," Giovanni reminded, without looking away from the fight. He didn't even blink at the bright lights.

"Really?" Rune gasped, "but then, why is it that we need to buy so much fuel and supplies. What about the workers of the power plant?" Mayor Antilles insisted in confusion.

"Rune," Giovanni once again scolded him sternly, "shut up."

"Yes, sir," the mayor realized he was treading into a topic he shouldn't be talking about. Maybe Giovanni had his own uses for the power plant. If that was the case, Rune thought it was in his best interest to remain as ignorant as possible about it.

"I hope those pokemon are being treated well," Delia intervened with a serious expression.

"They're fine," Giovanni assured with indifference, "you can see them if you want. The real facilities that supply power to the whole city are open to public tours. None of the pokemon used there are hidden. People think that the pokemon power plant only produces enough electricity for part of the city. They think it wouldn't be cost effective to try to get enough pokemon, food and health care for them, to power the entire city."

"I see, so that's why they think the conventional power plant is still needed. It would look suspicious if the truth got out." Delia remembered Ash telling her a story about the Pikachu powered electric generator that they used in the Viridian City Pokemon Center if the main power supply failed. "It sounds like your organization has come across quite a few technological advancements. But you're only sharing them when and as much as it is convenient."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Giovanni looked away from the battle field. He finally felt the need to rest his eyes after staring at the bright electric attacks for too long.

"I know," Delia sounded displeased. Team Rocket's way to deliver the antidote for the pokemon epidemic many years ago was more effective than waiting for it to be officially approved and mass produced. Nevertheless, Giovanni still used it to his convenience and could have done a lot more good if he tried. Regardless, Team Rocket's influence had been highly beneficial to the population of pokemon so what happened wasn't all bad. It brought the end of the epidemic after all. 

With those internal arguments and memories, Delia found herself realizing the cause for all the circles she had gone in for such a long time in the past. The world was not black and white and sometimes from a certain perspective, the shades of gray were light enough to be worth the trouble. When it came to Giovanni, she always tried to look on the bright side. She realized that the gray was closer to black than to white when the situation became really dark.

"Excuse me," Mayor Antilles shyly voiced, "should you really be, I mean, not to meddle," he mumbled unsure, "is she, are you?" He couldn't find a way to construct a coherent sentence.

"She won't tell anyone, and you better keep quiet as well," Giovanni warned. A spark of lightning collided with the edge of the balcony, breaking off a small piece. They were high enough not to be heard in their little royal tower, but they were not completely out of range from the attacks.

Delia sighed hopelessly, "maybe that's my biggest flaw, I could never say anything against you," she admitted bitterly. "Regardless of what you do, my first instinct is to justify you and I could never stay mad at you for long."

"You seemed perfectly capable of that before," Giovanni accused, ignoring the fact that mayor Antilles was listening, he didn't matter anyway.

"If I ever stayed angry at you for more than a few hours, it was because you kept giving me a new reason to be angry," Delia retorted. She realized that her argument fell short if she considered the fact that she had been away for many years. "Just so you know," she confessed sadly, "I would have come back if you asked me. It's not like you didn't know where to find me." It was something that filled her with both hopes and worries for years when Ash was little. "I just couldn't come back, because, because of a good reason." 

Delia wanted to raise Ash peacefully, yet she knew her resolve would crumble if Giovanni had ever showed up at her door. Then she would have told herself that the situation wasn't so bad. She would think that regardless of what Team Rocket did, by some miracle Ash would turn out alright. During those first few years in Pallet Town, Delia both hoped that Giovanni would come and feared that seeing him would throw her into that kind of reasoning. It would ruin the chance of the peaceful childhood she wanted for Ash.

Tired of the guessing games of the past, Giovanni kept a neutral face and spoke with complete indifference. He knew it would bother Delia much more than any angry remark could. "It doesn't matter, it happened many years ago. I knew where you went and I didn't go find you. I had more important things to do and you were holding me back. Besides, if you had bothered to come back, I would have sent you away."

Delia didn't breathe a word; instead she got up and left. She guessed that whatever amount of surprise, puzzlement and curiosity that kept Giovanni from sending her away sooner, had worn off. He didn't want her there anymore. She had promised Ash some answers, she had promised to reveal the identity of his father and she knew Ash could handle the truth. There was no reason for Giovanni to know. 

Mayor Antilles watched as Delia went away and looked at Giovanni in shock. The mayor's mouth was slightly opening and closing like a Magikarp. "You, she..." he tried to voice something but realized he had temporarily forgotten the majority of his vocabulary. 

"Rune," Giovanni warned menacingly, he was indeed surprised by Delia's visit and tried to be patient with her. In the end, his patience could only stretch so far. "Shut up," he ordered, not in the mood to deal with idiots.

"No, sir," Rune surprisingly refused, "I can't help it but to feel that I've been caught in the middle of some kind of lover's spat. It's like the soap opera dramas on TV and it is my duty to tell you to go after her." The mayor paused, taking a deep breath, then dramatically insisted, "go after her!"

"Is that all you wanted to say?" Giovanni inquired, with an intimidating expression. Rune paled and nodded hurriedly. "Then shut up."

"Yes, sir," the mayor sighed in both sadness for what he had witnessed and relief that he didn't have any broken bones as a result of his reaction. It was a pity that Giovanni had refused to dramatically run after his lady. Mayor Antilles would need something to occupy the headlines and take attention away from the broken state in which the Viridian Stadium was left in. What could be better than a touching reunion with a lost love? 

Rune knew Giovanni had more fame than him. People would rather read about the gym leader's secretive personal life, than fuss about the poorly built stadium. Besides, if Giovanni came out looking all nice and romantic, he would be even better received by the city. His support for mayor Antilles' political campaign would be that much more valuable.

xoxox xox xoxox

The Viridian Stadium shook with the force of the two colliding electric pokemon. It was already weak to begin with and terribly damaged. The electricity crashed into one of the balcony's columns causing it to shake unsteadily and begin to fall apart. 

The balcony tilted when the column fell, but it didn't crumble. It was barely supported by the column on the opposite side. It looked artistic to have two columns diagonally opposite to each other in the propounding structure of the balcony. The stadium was undoubtedly built more for show than anything else. It was not safe to stay in the weakened balcony. Giovanni and Persian quickly left, "are you coming?" Giovanni looked back at the mayor who sat nervously.

Mayor Antilles was breathing heavily; he had gone from ghostly pale to bright red, as if all his blood suddenly accumulated in his head. He got up from his chair, stumbled and fell flat on his face, than pushed himself up and rubbed his nose. "Ow," the blood that had accumulated in his head began to be drained again until he was once more ghostly pale. Seeing as Giovanni had no intentions of giving him a hand or waiting for him, the mayor struggled to his feet by himself and followed the gym leader to safety.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Boss!" Wendy called in alarm as she spotted Giovanni in the waiting room with Persian and the mayor. They were watching the battle from there, since the balcony was no longer safe. "All this electricity and commotion has the police's attention. Sio and the others are holding them off, making up excuses to reassure the officers that everything is okay. The police was saying the tournament should be suspended immediately before the stadium collapses."

"Preposterous!" Mayor Antilles exclaimed, "imagine the headlines when it becomes known that the tournament had to be canceled because my stadium didn't hold up. We must let the tournament conclude! I just wish they were gentler; it's also going to be bad if this place does come down. In that case it might really be best to call it off," the mayor thought about it. "How about we make them forfeit, or maybe..." he couldn't think of any good plans, it felt like he was trapped in a lose-lose situation.

"Shut up, Rune," Giovanni reprimanded the worrying mayor for what felt like the millionth time that day. "This is the last tournament battle. After they finish, I can battle the winner at the gym. Wendy, keep the police out until this battle is over, I don't want any interruptions."

"Yes sir!" Wendy ran back outside to join the other undercover Rockets protecting the stadium from the police's interference.

In the battle field, Pikachu and Sparky had discharged a massive amount of electricity. Even if Ash and Ritchie were once again in their battle trance, when one of the columns of the balcony tower fell, the noise was loud enough to make them look. Ash didn't see his mother, but he saw the gym leader leaving. He didn't see the mayor on the floor from his angle. Assuming that his mother left along with the others, Ash was relieved and focused on the battle once more. Thus when the balcony finally crumbled, Ash and Ritchie knew it was empty.

The collapse of the balcony tower caused rubble to rain upon the battle area and part of the audience area. People scrambled not to be hit by the rocks. Some were reached by the debris, but those were only small pieces that didn't cause any serious injuries. Those in the battle arena were in the most danger: Ash, Ritchie and Comet, who remained watching from the sidelines. Fortunately, they managed to dodge the falling stones only being scratched by a few small ones. The two Pikachu also avoided damage and were quick to be ready to continue the encounter.

When the dust finally settled down, both Ash and Ritchie called out in unison, "volt tackle!" The two Pikachu dashed towards each other and collided in the center of the battle arena in a huge explosion of electricity. The force made the weak structure of the stadium give in further and begin to collapse in several areas. When the light faded away and the new cloud of dust settled, it was revealed that Sparky had fainted. Ash's Pikachu still stood.

"Sparky is unable to battle!" Comet announced, shouting over the panicked screams of the alarmed spectators. "Ash's Pikachu is the winner. The tournament has ended, Ash is the ultimate champion!"

Ash jumped with joy and ran to the battle field to hug Pikachu and congratulate him. Ritchie approached and shook hands with Ash. The two young trainers once again got lost in their own little world, complimenting each other and their pokemon. This went on until mayor Antilles approached Ash with a trophy. "This is for you. However, given the damage caused to the stadium, I won't be able to pay you the prize money." Besides, Ash wasn't from Viridian City; there was no vote to buy. Now it was up to Giovanni to defeat him and avenge the city's honor at the Viridian Gym. Then hopefully the ruined stadium wouldn't be reduced to a pile of dust.

"That's not fair!" Ash pouted, he wanted to buy Misty a nice ring and he wouldn't be able to afford it without the prize money.

"We did make a mess," Ritchie pointed out, though in his frustration, Ash didn't hear him. Ritchie continued, placing his hand on Ash's shoulder to get the other young man's attention, "at least we had a fun battle, isn't that worth more?"

"Of course!" Ash assured, "I had a lot of fun. I'm really glad we got to battle, it was a true challenge. It's just that I was planning to..." he trailed off into silence, then scanned the surrounding area hoping to see Misty and his mother.

Delia had not left the stadium facilities after she stormed away from Giovanni, angry and hurt. There was quite the commotion going on outside with the police surrounding the stadium, claiming that it wasn't safe for anyone to remain inside. An array of people in matching green suits were trying to talk Jenny and the other officers into believing that everything was fine. Knowing of the danger of the stadium collapsing, instead of leaving, Delia felt the need to stay and wait for Ash and Misty. She rushed to the arena when she heard the balcony tower fall apart and got lost in the group of panicked people in the audience. After a lot of pushing and shoving, she was finally able to make her way towards Misty. The redhead was determined to stay and watch Ash's battle to the end.

Delia stayed with Misty until the battle ended and watched as mayor Antilles and Giovanni emerged from the waiting room lobby. The two women made their way out of the audience area and into the arena, lost among the people who rushed to congratulate the winner. Ash spotted them in the crowd and was relieved. His frustration with not receiving his due prize still remained and both Misty and his mother had heard his complaints.

Misty frowned in disapproval, making sure that Ash saw her displeased expression before she turned away to leave. Delia looked right at Ash among the crowd, she was still unseen by Giovanni. She gave him a look of urgency and disappeared among the other people in the same way Misty had. She was encouraging him to go after her. Ritchie witnessed this as well and whispered, "go."

Ash nodded, which mayor Antilles interpreted as an acceptance of his excuses as to why he couldn't be given the prize money. The truth was that Ash had not heard a single word the mayor spoke. He did hear the gym leader giving him a formal congratulation and inviting him to the gym for the promised bonus battle. Giovanni even offered to give Ash double the prize money if he won.

Ash got a closer look at Giovanni and was more certain than ever that he had seen him before. Nonetheless, there was a more urgent matter to tend to at the time. With so much in his mind, Ash couldn't think of anything other than going after Misty. As tempting as it was to accept the gym leader's offer of a double prize, what good would a diamond ring do if Misty was too upset to say I do? "Sorry, but I have to go."

"What about the battle?" Giovanni insisted, "you can switch pokemon if you want," he was feeling impatient and in a bad mood, despite hiding it well. He needed to let out his troubles in a true challenge. He pressured Ash, while still keeping a nice tone, "if you leave, you would be forfeiting." Giovanni was sure that would convince Ash to agree.

Ash took a deep breath and realized he needed to get his priorities straight. There would be other tournaments and other prizes, but Misty was clearly upset and needed him right away. "I forfeit," Ash's voice was hardly above a whisper. He never would have thought he would give up in a pokemon battle without even trying. "I'm sorry; I really want to battle you. I was looking forward to it when I heard you would battle the winner of the tournament, but I can't. There's something more important I need to do, maybe we can battle some other time." Ash disappeared among the crowd, leaving a stunned Giovanni behind.

"Hmm..." Mayor Antilles mused, "this could work," with the tournament winner forfeiting the match against the gym leader it would be easy to say that the young man from Pallet Town knew there was no way he could win. The gym leader would then be considered to have been recognized as better than the champion, by the champion himself, and thus he would become the hero that avenged Viridian City's honor. 

The mayor nodded to himself, if the press painted the picture correctly, and they knew better than to mess up, everything would work out. Giovanni's unconditional support in the mayor's campaign would still be enough to make him win the elections. If he ever lost, he was sure Giovanni could arrange that to change. However, Rune still had a little bit of pride left and wanted to win with real votes. 

The publicity tournament wouldn't be a total loss after all, though the damage to the stadium was still a catastrophe. Rune would think of a way to cover that up. Maybe he could say that the stadium was built so that certain parts would collapse on purpose. He would claim it was part of the show and that the real goal was to model the place as closely as possible to an ancient stadium. It did have a special likeliness to real ruins being collapsed on one side and damaged all over.

xoxox xox xoxox 

Diamond 44: Give me Forgiveness

The Viridian City park was very large and full of abundant plants and trees. It was not ideal for playing volleyball or tossing a frisbee due to the many obstacles. Yet it was perfect for young couples to sneak around without having to go to the forest's border in the outskirts of the city to find privacy. The park was located at the very center of the city, not too far away from the Viridian gym and the ruined stadium. Other than serving as a hiding place for couples, it was also the most obvious place where one would go to be alone. Brock's lonely grieving was interrupted by Ash, who had lost track of Misty. "Brock, have you seen Misty around here?"

Brock looked up from his position sitting under a tree hugging his knees to his chest, face buried in his arms. "She ran past me a few minutes ago. I called out to her, but she said she needed to be alone for a while. She said that if you came after her I should tell you that she's not in the very middle of the park, sitting by the little pond."

Ash frowned, "where is she then?"

Brock paused, observing Ash's perplexed expression, "in the very middle of the park, sitting by the little pond," he recited.

"Didn't you just say..." Ash understood as Pikachu jumped off his shoulders and encouraged his trainer. "Oh, I get it, I'll see you later."

xoxox xox xoxox

The pond was quite small but beautiful, with crystalline waters that shone as the summer sun hit them. Misty was sitting at the pond's edge in a similar posture to Brock's. She heard the approaching footsteps on the lush green grass and looked up to see Ash. He wordlessly sat down beside her.

They sat in silence for a few seconds until Ash finally asked, "why are you mad at me?"

Misty was used to needing to be direct. She had not completely grown out of the habit of dropping hints about how she felt and letting Ash attempt to figure it out, but she knew the limitations of that. Most of the time, he didn't understand unless she was direct. She loved him dearly, but she knew she had to spell things out to him sometimes. "I'm not mad," she moved closer, resting her head on his shoulder.

Ash responded by putting his arm around Misty's shoulders, tilting his head to rest on hers. "I know you're upset about something. Is it because of the mess we made at the stadium?"

"No, I don't blame you for that." Misty could have an explosive temper at times, but sometimes she just didn't feel like blowing up about the issue at hand. That only meant it really bothered her, she wasn't angry, she was worried. "Ash, I'm upset because of... well..." she searched for the right way to phrase it, shifting to meet his eyes. "I feel like you've been hiding something from me. You've been busy going from one tournament to another, which is normal, but you seemed more focus on the prizes than ever before and that worries me."

Misty continued, "usually you're in it for the challenge. I've just been seeing another side of you. It's fine to want a reward, but I don't want you to change. I want you to be the same carefree Ash who just wants to have fun and be the best. It doesn't matter if you're stubborn and dense, just don't get greedy. Don't put your pokemon or your friends in second place next to the glory, fame and riches. You didn't change when you became champion. You went on and on about it twenty-four seven for a week and drove everyone insane. But after that, you were back to your old self, ready to tackle life's next challenges." 

Misty took a deep breath; she looked into Ash's brown eyes. Her cerulean eyes were full of adoration with a remaining hint of worry. "I really don't want you to change. I want you to be the Ash I fell in love with forever. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Misty didn't know where the outburst came from, she just felt like speaking out her emotions.

Ash looked at Misty as if it was the first time he was seeing her in a long time. "Misty," the ring and the place didn't matter anymore. She didn't need to be impressed to say yes. Ash knew that from the start, he just wanted to do something big for her. He understood what his mother was trying to tell him before; Misty didn't want riches or power. She just wanted Ash to stay the same and be there for her. "That was my line." Ash took the silver sapphire ring from his pocket and placed it on Misty's finger, "will you marry me?"

Misty felt her breath catch in her throat and her heart beats speed up as tears of happiness began to fall from her eyes. She smiled, trying to find her voice, the image of Ash's hopeful and loving face forever engraved in her mind.

A sudden explosion came unexpectedly and the near by plants caught on fire. The abundant flora's proximity to each other only made it easier for the fire to spread. The explosion, originated underground, blasting through the land behind Ash and Misty. It left the couple frozen in shock in a tight embrace. They were between the pond and a hole on the ground. "Was that some kind of missile?" Ash stammered, trying to recover from the shock. 

The missile had exploded on the ground as it broke through. Its effect was mostly thrown at the tunnel from where it was shot. But its force was enough for sparks to fly out of the hole along with pieces of scrap metal. As soon as Misty recovered from the shock, she sent out her Gyarados and a pair of Starmie, "water gun, everyone put out all the flames before they spread!" Psyduck popped out of his pokeball uncalled and ran around in a panic until Misty recalled him. 

The yellow water pokemon would never evolve and Misty had come to terms with that. She discovered it one day when she took Psyduck to the Pokemon Center for a detailed examination. She hoped she could find out why he wouldn't evolve, even if she had been training him for years. After a series of tests, including an x-ray, nurse Joy discovered that Psyduck had swallowed an everstone. It resided inside his stomach for years.

Psyduck had apparently adapted to having the small everstone stuck in a corner of his stomach and out of the way for his digestive system to function normally. Joy had offered to operate Psyduck and take the everstone out. But seeing poor Psyduck so frightened about the surgery made Misty decide to leave him as he was.

Ash released his Blastoise from his pokeball, he had been with Ash since he was a Squirtle and remained as one for many years. "Help put the fire out!" Squirtle evolved into Wartortle when he began to travel with Ash again. He later evolved into Blastoise to put out a fire at the Pewter City Pokemon Center, where Ash and his friends were trapped. The fire had been started by a malfunction in Jessie and James' equipment, causing them to become trapped as well, though they were all saved in the end. Despite Blastoise having evolved, Bulbasaur still remained the same, determined to stay that way.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Delia had gone to the park to think. "I thought you would still be around here," she turned around at the familiar voice. She was surprised at just how familiar it felt. She had only heard it for a short time after an absence of many years. 

She needed to compose herself and figure out what she was going to tell Ash about his father. She intended to delay the confession until after he sorted things out with Misty. She told herself that the procrastination was necessary and that she wasn't just escaping from the truth again, but she wasn't sure. "I didn't think you would come looking for me." Delia honestly didn't expect it. She assumed Giovanni would just disregard their meeting and forget about it. He made it clear he had more important things to do.

"You never told me what you came here to say," Giovanni reminded with a casual tone, as if their recent argument had never happened. He knew he purposely upset her, though it seemed to have hurt her more than he expected.

Frowning, Delia took a deep breath and tried to find the words that would allow her to make Giovanni forget about his curiosity. Maybe this was something he didn't need to know after all. "It's nothing vital to Team Rocket. In fact, you would probably say that it doesn't make a difference, especially not now. I don't know why I even bothered to come to you. Please forget about it, I didn't mean to make you waste your time," she didn't realize it, but she was crying.

"I don't understand," Giovanni admitted. "this is, important to you," he stated, still completely in the dark about what the secret Delia held could be. "Is this really about when you left? Delia, it's been so many years. You can't expect me to believe that's all there is to it. If it was something like that, something related to us, you would have forgotten about it by now." He felt as if she was using their past relationship to hide the real information that she came to reveal. He didn't understand that she would never simply forget about the past that was so precious to her.

Giovanni reflected on his own words. When Delia left, he felt betrayed and stubbornly refused to go after her. He restructured Team Rocket and focused on his work. He was in a foul mood for days, but during those first few days he would have welcomed Delia back if she returned. He knew she was in Pallet Town, it was easy to guess. Thanks to her letter, he knew she left of her own free will; no one kidnapped her or forced her to leave. He never understood her allusions to having a good reason to leave. He never found any justification in it, thinking it was something related to foolish ideals of justice.

When the days turned to weeks, Giovanni regarded Delia as a traitor. He was determined not to welcome her if she returned, but she never did. Even so, he somehow knew that she would not speak against him. He assumed she simply had enough of his criminal ways and left, thinking it was for the best. He was bitter that she had apparently chosen justice over him. He was selfish in that sense, wanting all her devotion to himself, knowing that for some time he had it.

Many years had passed, Giovanni reminded himself of that again. Why would Delia still care about him as she did before? The information she possessed about Team Rocket was mostly outdated. Save for a few details that hadn't changed, such as their main base of operations being hidden in the Viridian Gym, she didn't know anything important. They also had many other bases in several regions and the Viridian base wasn't a total secret from the police.

Was Delia trying to gather more information? Could the traitor he was seeking in an internal investigation have contacted her and put her up to this? He couldn't imagine her doing something like that. None the less, it had been many years and Delia had no reason to pledge her loyalty to him anymore. If this was a trick, Giovanni wouldn't fall for it. He wouldn't waste the opportunity to use Delia's possible situation of being a spy to his favor.

That was the only explanation Giovanni could think of. Delia was working with the enemy and Ash must be with them two. She must have been conflicted about it. Seeing him again must have pushed her into trying to confess her mission, though she was still unsure about doing so. Ash wasn't a Rocket, so he wasn't among the inside traitors, but he had to be part of their group. He was probably the one who discovered Delia's past and put her up to spying.

That had to be it. Why else would Delia show up and reminisce about the past, then get all emotional. Not only was Giovanni not falling for it, he would use their trick against them. Delia would go from infiltrator to double agent. She would ultimately take his side; Giovanni would make sure of it.

"Delia, I think I understand why you left," Giovanni calmly began. His tone and expression caught Delia off guard, he looked almost caring. "I was too focused on my own goals and wasn't paying attention to you. I wanted to give you what I thought you wanted and never asked you what you really wanted. You know Team Rocket is important to me, but so are you."

Delia stared at Giovanni in shock. She didn't understand his sudden change in attitude. She felt as if she was diving head first into a trap. Yet the only thing she could muster to say was "what do you mean are? I'm not important to you anymore."

He was moving too fast, it wasn't believable. Maybe Delia had become a little bit less naive over the years, but only a little. Giovanni was just as prideful, stubborn and confident as he had always been. He could think of nothing to say that would make his act sound believable and turn Delia into his double agent. He wanted her to pretend her infiltration mission was a big success and deliver convenient false information to the enemy. 

Instead of answering her question, Giovanni pulled Delia close suddenly and kissed her. He caught her totally off guard and too shocked to oppose any resistance. The kiss didn't last too long. They parted abruptly when they heard an explosion near by.

xoxox xox xoxox

Thanks to the efforts of Gyarados, the two Starmie and Blastoise, the fire was put out without casualties. As the last of the flames were extinguished, Pikachu and Brock arrived. The hole had been covered up from the inside before any of them could see the people in black uniforms with red Rs running in the tunnel. Battle noises, arguments, accusations of betrayal, insults and curses could be heard faintly, with the tunnel's sound proof shield having been shattered.

Giovanni and Delia were the next two to arrive. Giovanni found the way Ash was kneeling on the ground examining a patch of exposed metal quite suspicious. The secret Team Rocket headquarters extended all over the underground area below the park. "What happened here?" Giovanni tried to sound as if he truly had no clue, while Delia was still in a confused daze.

"A missile came out of the ground!" Ash looked up to find his mother and the gym leader. Delia was looking shocked and her face was slightly red. All those present assumed it was because she heard the explosion and it startled her.

Comet was the next one to appear on the scene, ready to implement a hasty cover up. "Is everyone alright? Did anyone get hurt?" He asked with real worry, looking around the area and assessing the damage. 

"We're alright," Misty replied, puzzled by the entire event, "what was that?" One second she was on cloud nine and the next she was harshly crashing down in an unpredictable and dangerous reality.

"I'm so sorry about that," Comet apologized deeply, "some of the fireworks we had set up for tonight malfunctioned. I apologize for the trouble it caused. Don't worry, it's all under control now. I'll have to ask you to leave this area so we can make some repairs to the mechanism. I apologize for the inconvenience." No one questioned Comet's explanation. Ash's version of it being a missile sounded much less believable than a fireworks malfunction. Even Ash concluded that he must have misinterpreted what he saw.

The group quietly made their way out of the park, with Giovanni going along with them as well. Delia was trying to tame her internal turmoil and figure out what to say to Ash and Giovanni. Her confusion was overwhelming.

Ash watched his mother and the gym leader from the corner of his eyes. At some point unknown to Delia she took Giovanni's hand or vice-versa and she still hadn't let go. Ash wasn't usually too observant, but there were a few rare occasions in which he took note of details. Then the realization hit him, Giovanni looked familiar because he was the man in the picture with his mother. They must have dated in the past.

A flood of questions invaded Ash's mind, he wondered if Giovanni was his father. His first impression of the gym leader was that he was cool and the way his mother spoke of his father was always good. If he was in Viridian City the entire time, why did he never visit? Even if they broke up, shouldn't he still want to see his son?

Then another thought occurred to Ash. His mother had said the man in the picture was her boyfriend, she didn't confirm he was Ash's father. There were no other pictures that Ash had ever seen of his mother with someone who could be identified as her date. That did not mean that the only picture available had to be of his father.

Maybe Giovanni had dated his mother before she met his father, Ash thought about it and it made sense. They broke up, his parents met, he was born, then his father was somehow out of the picture. An old theory resurfaced and Ash concluded that his father must have indeed passed away. His mother, in her grief, must have gotten rid of all his pictures. The picture of Giovanni was something she kept as a memento, remembering him as a friend. 

It must have been awkward for Giovanni and that's why he never visited, even if Delia still wanted to be friends. That had to be the whole story; Ash became more certain of it with each passing second. It did not solve the mystery of his father's identity, but it did ease Ash's worries. He had become aware of how lonely his mother felt whenever he left on a journey and it would be nice if she had some company aside from her Pallet Town neighbors. 

He knew that his mother would always love his father, but it had been many years since he passed away. Ash found nothing wrong with rediscovering a past love, given the circumstances. Maybe his recent proposal had left Ash in a somewhat cheesy romantic mood, his theory made perfect sense to him.

When they exited the park, Ash smiled and addressed both his mother and the gym leader, "there's something I have to do, so I'll be going now. Have a good time catching up."

Misty smiled, knowing exactly where Ash was going, though she still had a feeling of uneasiness and Brock was extremely quiet. She pushed the worries away, still in her romance high. She had to give Ash her answer without interruptions. "Right, see you later," she purposely waved with her left hand, bringing attention to the ring she was wearing. It brought a big smile to Delia's face.

Brock watched Ash and Misty leave, then looked at Delia and the man beside her for a moment in worry and uncertainty. In total silence, Brock hurried after Ash and Misty. He had to tell them something important. Delia didn't read too deeply into Brock's reaction, the poor boy was probably frustrated that he was still single.

The way the young group left was extremely suspicious to Giovanni. For the time being he would play along and pretend he didn't suspect anything. He would make them regret trying to trick him. He would find out the details about their group and lead them to a trap. Delia would be the key to that.

Delia decided not to worry about telling Ash the truth for the time being. He didn't seem to suspect anything about Giovanni's identity as his father after all, even if he must have recognized him as her past boyfriend. She didn't want to create drama when he was celebrating his engagement. Understandably, he would want to spend some time with Misty at the moment. Delia didn't want to ruin it. Plus she needed more time to sort things out with Giovanni. If only she knew where to start. "What was that back there? What was that... Charmander outburst all of a sudden?"

Giovanni grinned at hearing the nickname Delia used to call him. "I think that defines it pretty well," his acceptance of her return didn't make any more sense than her sudden return did. He had to make her believe he didn't suspect anything yet, which may involve keeping her occupied thinking of other things.

"But I... you..." It made no sense, it just made no sense and Delia didn't know what to say about it. She told herself over and over not to get her hopes up for a happy ending. Things like that did not happen outside of movies. She frowned thinking that maybe he was just amusing himself with her, enjoying watching her confusion. "Are you..." she paused, unable to continue.

Giovanni couldn't help it but to laugh slightly at her reaction. He couldn't deny he was enjoying it. He let go of her hand instead wrapping his arm around her waist, "maybe if you eat something you'll remember how to speak."

Delia could do nothing more than nod. She hoped that by the time they made it to wherever Giovanni was leading her, her perplexed brain recovered at least a little.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon.


	12. Part 12

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 45: Give me Romance

Brock, Ash and Misty walked through the crowded streets. Pikachu was once again riding on Ash's back and the rest of their pokemon were resting in their pokeballs. As soon as they were away from Giovanni and Delia, Brock was quick to express his worries. "Do you remember Mewtwo and the one who tried to capture him?"

"I remember Mewtwo, but not really the one trying to capture him," Ash was confused by the sudden question that didn't seem to be related to anything recent. "I was helping Mewtwo when he arrived and when I looked up I just saw Onix. Maybe he didn't see me either, but why do you ask?"

Misty had grown pale, her hand gripping Ash's tighter, "it has to be a coincidence. The man who was with Delia is the Viridian City gym leader," Misty also remembered that man who tried to capture Mewtwo. She saw the resemblance between him and the gym leader too. It was something that she realized subconsciously before Brock finally pointed it out and she became aware of it.

"What are you talking about?" Ash inquired with curiosity, "do they look alike or something? Well, I'm sure it's just a coincidence. The gym leader is the same man from mom's picture. They used to date," and therefore, he had to be a good man. "I want to ask her about it, but this is no time to be nosy. I'll give them some space and let them catch up. Besides, it would be nice if mom had someone to keep her company when I'm away. Viridian City is very close to Pallet Town, so visiting would be easy," Ash reasoned.

Misty and Brock nodded in understanding. Surely the gym leader's resemblance to Mewtwo's enemy of the past was purely a coincidence or maybe even their imagination. They would never know for sure unless they saw Giovanni wearing orange. Seeing him in black made him look like someone who wouldn't wear such a bright color.

It was only after his worries were calmed that Brock noticed the look of bliss on Ash and Misty's faces. Then the situation became more apparent when Pikachu jumped on his shoulder. "Did something happen?" He had been too worried before to notice the ring on Misty's finger, even when she waved at Delia.

Misty smiled from ear to ear, "I thought you'd never ask," she lifted her left hand to show her engagement ring.

Brock immediately understood, "congratulations!"

"I still haven't given Ash a proper answer. The explosion interrupted me," Misty recalled, still blissful nonetheless.

"In that case, you should do that now," Brock smiled, truly happy for his friends. He wished that he could experience that kind of happiness one day too. "Pikachu and I are going to get a snack, how about it, Pikachu?"

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded, he too was full of questions regarding Giovanni. Pikachu had been paying attention to the conversation and was puzzled. He remembered having met Giovanni some time ago, years after the Mewtwo incident.

xoxox xox xoxox

Jessie had thought James' idea was bad, "quality over quantity," she had argued. James had purchased a pair of cheap remote control robots with long arms culminating in robber covered hands. The robots did not posses a human shape or even a head. They were instead a pair of metal boxes with conveyor style wheels to help them move. They were about five feet tall with long arms, protected by rubber, though their bodies were not.

Jessie, James and Meowth appeared in front of the path Ash, Misty and Brock were taking across the Viridian forest. They began by reciting their motto as they always did and creating a commotion. James served as the decoy, sending his robot to capture Pikachu. He was ultimately sent flying after Pikachu short circuited the machine into exploding before he could be caught.

Jessie took advantage of the distraction and sent the second identical robot to capture Pikachu. The yellow electric pokemon was taken by surprise and captured by the robot. However, things did not go as planned. The robot began to malfunction by itself, even if Pikachu wasn't doing anything. It ultimately exploded and sent both Jessie and Pikachu blasting off, while Meowth was left behind.

Jessie was used to the rough landings and was able to recover quickly. In contrast, the explosion, aftershock, flying shards of the destroyed robot and the fall, affected Pikachu greatly. Jessie picked him up, he was conscious, but he was injured and his breathing was labored and pained. The yellow pokemon didn't have the strength to fight against his captor.

In her euphoria for having captured Pikachu, Jessie didn't even realize the critical state he was in. "James, Meowth, I have him!" She wasn't even wearing rubber gloves, but she couldn't think about that at the time. She only thought of finally handing Pikachu over to the boss.

James, who had landed in a tree near by, heard Jessie and rushed towards her. "We have him, we have him!" He jumped and cheered, "we finally captured Pikachu!"

"Shut up, don't jinx it!" Jessie scolded, she didn't know where Meowth was, but there was no time to wait for him. "We need to give Pikachu to the boss right away before something goes wrong." It was a good thing they were so close to headquarters, and they wasted no time in rushing there.

Giovanni was just returning to the Viridian headquarters after completing some business in the Johto region. He was entering the gym from the back door when Jessie and James arrived and cheerfully called out, "boss! Boss!" They felt bad about leaving Meowth out, but it was vital to hand over Pikachu before their good luck ran out.

"What do you two want?" Giovanni snapped; he was in no mood to deal with Jessie and James.

"We brought you a super strong pokemon!" Without even thinking that her boss wasn't equipped with rubber gloves or any sort of electric protection, Jessie placed Pikachu in his arms.

Giovanni never liked jokes and he knew no one was crazy enough to play a joke on him. He didn't have the best impression of Jessie and James. They had been competent at some point, but those times were long gone. He wasn't even sure why he put up with them anymore and decided that day that it was over. If that beat up barely conscious creature was their idea of a super strong pokemon, they were useless, "you're fired!"

Jessie and James stood in shock while Giovanni took his little black cell phone with a red R from his pocket. He was still holding Pikachu in his other arm while he called out a few Rocket grunts. He instructed the Rocket grunts to carry out the usual procedure when someone left Team Rocket. He watched as Jessie and James were dragged away.

Realizing that he was still holding the injured Pikachu, Giovanni examined the creature. He noticed the little yellow pokemon was glaring at him. Putting no importance in that detail, Giovanni decided that maybe that pokemon would be useful after all. He took a small clear vial from his pocket. It was a sample of a new healing potion that would be quite profitable when it hit the market. All the tests were complete and it worked perfectly with no side-effects. Giovanni wanted to see its fast effect in action one more time.

He took the vial's cap off and held Pikachu carefully, "drink this," he instructed gently, so as to not startle the creature, but with commanding authority.

Pikachu was dazed and barely conscious. His electricity felt as if it was completely gone at the moment and his body didn't respond when he wanted to move. His vision was blurry and it hurt to breathe. He had no choice but to swallow the salty liquid the human was giving him. The aftertaste beyond the salt was bitter and unpleasant, but the pain was starting to fade away. Pikachu felt strong again, he could breathe easily and his limbs were no longer limp with numbing pain. He shifted in the human's arms, looking up at him with puzzlement. If this was the Team Rocket boss, why would he heal him?

Satisfied with the test, Giovanni set the Pikachu down, he had no interest in keeping the seemingly weak pokemon. Leaving Pikachu standing in confusion, Giovanni proceeded to go inside the Viridian Gym. Persian paused before following his trainer and addressed Pikachu, taking note of his confusion. 'You're free to go,' Persian followed Giovanni inside and the door was closed behind them.

xoxox xox xoxox

After the perplexing event, Pikachu was reunited with Ash, who didn't let Meowth get away. Upon finding Pikachu, Ash finally released Meowth. The Rocket pokemon ran away immediately to avoid being sent blasting off. 

Meowth searched for Jessie and James, finally finding them as they exited the Viridian Gym wearing casual clothes. Meowth almost didn't recognize them. "I've been looking all over for you. It looks like Pikachu got away again; he's with the twerps now." Meowth examined their depressed expressions, "why do you look so sad and how come you're not wearing your uniforms?"

Jessie and James tearfully informed Meowth that they were fired and that all the final paperwork had been completed. Meowth exploded in depressed rage, scratching them and running away. He later rejoined the two humans to seek revenge. Then one day they decided to start anew after a good meal and an understanding talk from Ash's mother in Pallet Town.

xoxox xox xoxox

Time passed and once again it was morning in Viridian City. The previous night had been filled with celebrations, music and fireworks. Delia was just waking up and her head wasn't any clearer than it was the previous day. She knew she wouldn't be able to figure things out any time soon. She examined the unfamiliar ceiling before remembering where she was and her confusion hit her harder, "what am I going to do?"

She got up and went to take a shower in the bathroom attached to the Viridian Gym's guest room. The room was rather elegant. The carpet was so thick that her bare feet sunk into it and she didn't even bother putting on her shoes when she got out of bed. It was that same deep red color as the sheets and pillows, there were at least a dozen pillows varying in size. From the biggest being almost as long as she was tall, to the smallest being a little square less than a foot long.

The walls were a very pale gray that looked almost white by the contrast of the deep shades of red. But it was not white enough to stand out and take any attention away from the dark colored furniture. The bed was large enough to fit three or four people with an intricately carved backrest in swirling shapes on the black wood. It was as if it had been crafted from an imaginary tangible material which composed the black holes of outer space. The two nightstands on either side of the bed, the desk in the corner, the chairs and various pieces of furniture in the room matched the bed.

There was a large mirror in front of the bed, three feet tall and five feet wide. Delia found out by accident that it was not a normal mirror. That was a fact Delia discovered the previous night after insisting that she needed some alone time and kicked Giovanni out of his own guestroom. She locked the door to ensure his lack of intrusion, not that it worked.

She intended to lie in bed sorting through her thoughts, but the lack of concentration made her observe the various aspects of the room like a detective searching for hidden clues in a crime scene. She spotted a remote control on the night stand to her right and picked it up, examining the multitude of colorful buttons it possessed. She experimented with the buttons, learning by trial and error how to control the room's temperature and lights. The lights could be set to a variety of intensities and colors. It was an unnecessary luxury in her opinion, but that didn't make it any less amusing.

As Delia played with the lights and the purple faded into darkness, her finger slipped and pressed another button. She was suddenly face to face with a masked man armed with a bloody knife and couldn't help it but to scream.

Giovanni entered the room, turning the lights on as he rushed in to find Delia rolling around the bed in a fit of laughter. "What happened? Why did you yell?" The 3D TV was on, having less of an effect in the bright light, though it still showed the vicious killer finishing off his latest victim. "Where you yelling because of this movie and is that the same reason you're laughing?"

Delia composed herself and nodded, she should have known a simple lock wouldn't keep Giovanni out. "Yes, I didn't realize it was a TV at first, then suddenly there's some murderous masked man trying to stab me. When the scene changed it made it look as if the room was haunted. That would have been nice, but then I realized it was just a TV hidden in the mirror."

Giovanni had forgotten Delia's liking for haunted places. Yet Ash was the one who ended up finding ghosts now and then. Some should have been haunting Giovanni, due to Team Rocket's actions. The topic reminded Delia that Giovanni also had a liking for such things. More so than simple curiosity, it was because he wanted to know what kind of power lurked behind the illusions and how to obtain it. "Maybe I should stay here and keep you company so you don't hurt yourself with everyday household appliances like a naive country girl." 

She could have argued that particular kind of TV was not an everyday household appliance for everyone, but there were other more pressing matters in her mind. Delia didn't know when Giovanni sat down on the bed beside her. She didn't know when he wrapped his arms around her. She didn't know when he got close enough to whisper in her ear. It all still felt unreal, but years of waiting for that moment and not obtaining it had build up her defenses, if only by a little. She wanted to laugh, call him Charmander like she used to and playfully scold him, not really meaning it. She felt a heavy sense of deja vu that drowned her and she liked it, which was all the more reason to push him away. "Stop it, I'm serious. I told you I needed some time by myself to think."

He gave her a quick kiss and got up, "you really need to stop denying yourself what you want." She wanted to throw the nearest blunt object at him for telling her the exact same thing he had told her long ago. As if her deja vu and confusion wasn't overwhelming already. At least he didn't intrude in her requested privacy again for the rest of the night.

xoxox xox xoxox

After her morning shower, Delia threw on a bathrobe tying the band around her waist and wrapping a towel on her damp hair that matched the color of the sheets. She exited the bathroom and opened the closet. It was full of clothes, clearly new, which must have been hastily purchased by that Rocket girl she saw when Giovanni led her to the room. 

When he convinced her to spend the night over at the gym, he made a call to have the guest room prepared. Delia had insisted that she would only stay if she got her own room. As they arrived, a girl with cyan colored hair and green eyes, that Delia was certain she had seen before, was exiting the room. "Everything is ready, boss!" She chirped cheerfully, her voice was particularly melodious. 

The girl left soon after, before Delia could inquire about her identity. "Isn't she a famous singer? Akira?"

Giovanni didn't seem to place too much importance in the fact, "members of Team Rocket can do what they want in their free time, as long as it doesn't interfere with their duties."

Delia had found it all too puzzling. Why would a famous singer want to be a part of Team Rocket? Furthermore, why would she still remain as a famous artist even after it became well known that her concerts were most likely Team Rocket traps? Perhaps the added danger contributed to the rebellious teen image she had since she was actually a teenager. Albeit those years had passed, she still looked like one.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia felt guilty examining the price tags on the clothes that Akira must have hastily placed in the closet. At least the girl had good taste, despite her own attire outside of her uniform being very different from what Delia would wear. Sighing hopelessly, Delia frowned at the amount of clothes there were. It was as if Giovanni wanted the well supplied closet to send the message that she should be in no hurry to leave. Two could play that game.

If she was going to be there, she would make herself useful to the world by trying to pick up where she left off in her attempt to talk Giovanni into making Team Rocket an organization of good. Either he would get tired of her and send her away, or she would at least push him to the edge and make him explain why he was suddenly all over her. She knew she might not like the explanation, but she needed to know. Either way, first she had to call Ash so he wouldn't worry about her prolonged absence.

Unfortunately, Delia's cell phone had mysteriously vanished. She had a sinking suspicion that Giovanni took it from her pocket at some point when she attempted to continue conversing with him in a private living room area at the gym after dinner. It must have happened before she decided it was time to do something to protect her personal space. There was no phone in the guestroom or at least not in plain sight; unless some random piece of furniture was secretly a phone. Left without a choice, Delia went off to find Giovanni and ask to use a phone.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash, Misty, Brock and Pikachu were in the Viridian Pokemon Center's lobby that morning. Brock didn't know where his friends went the previous night or at what time they got to the Pokemon Center. He assumed they stayed in the city and that their date lasted until late. Pikachu jumped on Ash's shoulder, greeting his happy trainer. Mutual "good morning"s were exchanged.

After the greetings, Ash curiously inquired, "did mom come back to the Pokemon Center last night?" The question was followed by a growl from his stomach, demanding breakfast.

"No, I haven't seen her since yesterday. I thought she might have called you," Brock voiced with concern.

Ash was surprised by the news, but not unpleasantly so. "She must have forgotten the time talking to Giovanni. They had a lot of catching up to do, I bet they enjoyed it," he smiled. As it often happens when children turn to adults and the time to officially leave home approaches, Ash also worried about leaving his mother. In truth she had been practically living by herself since he left on his journey. Even so, he didn't want her to remain that way for the rest of her life.

Misty was about to comment, but before she could speak, Ash's loud but catchy ring tone filled the relative quiet of the Pokemon Center. The Viridian City Pokemon Center was nothing unusual, it had a nurse Joy managing it, white tiles on the floor, matching walls and a large front desk. Rows of plastic black seats with metal legs were available for people to rest and wait for their pokemon to be healed. Rows of PCs and video phones lined the walls and there was a plastic potted plant here and there.

Ash glanced at the number displayed on his cell phone realizing he did not recognize it. He answered it anyway, "hello?"

"Hi, it's me," she would feel odd saying that 'it's Delia' because when talking to Ash she would normally say 'it's mom'. She couldn't say that at the moment, Giovanni was still unaware that they had a son. Until she sorted out her life and where he stood in it, she thought it was best not to reveal too much. 

A part of Delia wanted to be happy that Giovanni had taken her out to dinner in a nice restaurant and they shared a long conversation about their past together. That part of her wanted to believe that everything was somehow fixed by some inexplicable miracle. She wanted to believe that he did care and that he was happy to have her back, though she had not officially mentioned anything about getting back together.

Another more realistic part of Delia screamed at her that she was only being used. She was just an old flame with no emotional value, merely there for amusement. That part told her she should leave before she got hurt and more so before Ash was hurt because of her actions. Yet she couldn't bring herself to heed the warning.

"Good morning! Where are you?" Ash recognized his mother's voice immediately, though there was something off about her tone. Was she nervous?

xoxox xox xoxox

With Giovanni listening in on the conversation, there was only so much Delia could say. She didn't want to hint that her young friends were actually their son, his fiance and his best man for the coming wedding. Ash had already told Delia about choosing Brock before he even proposed, though the date of the wedding had not yet been set.

"I'm at the Viridian City gym," Delia paused, watching as Comet, now in his Rocket uniform, entered the dinning room with their breakfast and set it on the table. She was right; the Rocket image did fit him. Despite his good boy face, the mischief in his eyes shone through. She nodded in silent thanks, watching as Comet smiled. 

Delia continued speaking into the little black cell phone with the red R, much like the one Comet had. The high tech cell phone was something Giovanni had given her. It was as if she was joining Team Rocket, though she was not. "I think I might be staying for a little while, so don't worry or anything."

She paused, watching as Giovanni got up from his seat across from her. He stood behind her and whispered in her ear, opposite to where she held the tiny cell phone, "stay forever." She gasped in surprise when he started kissing her neck, trying to get her to end her conversation with who he assumed to be the enemy. He still had some preparations to make before he was ready to ambush the anti-Rocket group. Delia would have plenty of time to talk to the mysterious Ash after she became his loyal double agent. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash couldn't make any sense out of the surprised gasp and following silence that came from his phone, "hello?"

"Stop that," Delia mentally kicked herself for letting a giggle escape, "I'm on the phone," there was another short silence, "yes, I'm still here. I'll be staying over for a while. I lost my cell phone so if you need anything call this number. I'll try to call you again later, bye."

"Okay, have a good time, bye," Ash stared at his cell phone before pressing the buttons to save the new number into its address book. "Is giggling good?"

Misty couldn't help it but to laugh at the question, "yes Ash, it's good." Meanwhile, Brock frowned and held back the need to cry because everyone was getting some love except him.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 46: Give me Family

Delia wasn't sure what kind of bread it was, but it was fluffy. It was as if the food couldn't decide if it wanted to be bread, a pancake, a waffle or some kind of cake. The buttery substance in it also couldn't decide if it wanted to be butter, cheese, honey or some rare yellow-bronze sauce. As for Delia, she couldn't decide if she was awake or asleep if her thoughts had decided to attribute personification metaphors to her food. The point was that it was all delicious and seemed to adapt to whatever taste she wanted to feel out of the list of possibilities.

As for the muffins, she really couldn't decide if they were muffins, biscuits or creampuffs, or perhaps a combination of their best aspects. The filling, albeit delicious, was a complete mystery to Delia and she wanted to ask for the recipe, or to speak to the cook, but did not. She felt like a country girl who didn't know as much about cuisine as she thought she did. That was all the more reason to keep quiet, least her lack of expertise in the business she had dedicated the past years to made her feel more exposed than she already felt.

Going back to the bread, Delia knew for certain that the thin strip of meat in the middle, albeit akin to bacon, did not come from a Tauros. The taste simply didn't fit, it had a delectable taste, but the taste was too soft to be Tauros. She also decided not to ask about what it was.

"You look like you have a lot on your mind," Giovanni broke the silence that had invaded the elegant dinning room. He had taken his seat, temporarily ceasing the 'Charmander moment' at Delia's insistence.

"Of course I do," ironically, instead of thinking about the multitude of things she should be analyzing, Delia was studying the food. She picked up her cup and drank as if to buy herself more time. The juice was deep red like something that a vampire would be presented drinking in a movie pretending it was blood. The strong yet pleasant aroma reminded her of grapes, apples and raspberries all at once, it tasted sweet and good. She allowed herself another moment of distraction observing the paintings that lined the white walls.

The frames were a polished and sparkling gold, which she knew must have been real. Even with its shine, the beauty contained in the paintings didn't pale. The paintings were so majestic that any other frame not made of pure gold, would offend them. Delia almost expected the pokemon in them to come to life when she looked at them.

A Gyarados towered in the middle of the sea surrounded by a storm. The clouds were so detailed it almost look as if they would shift with the wind any second. The illumination of lightning overtook the horizon and if someone looked at the painting long enough, they would expect to hear the sound of thunder. The Gyarados looked to the sky with a determined expression, challenging the storm. At the same time, the mighty pokemon appeared to long for the end of the storm in the horizon, where a faint hint of calm could be seen.

Another painting on the wall depicted a Persian laying on a brown rock surrounded by a grassy field of lush green. It was as if the canvas held the texture of the grass and fur rather than that of paint on the material. It looked as if the soft pleasant breeze would blow the grass gently and the Persian would welcome it as a relief to the heat of the sun. The hunter was satisfied; the Persian's expression had a clear mark of victory. The pokemon was resting after a successful battle, inhabiting his territory proudly, as if no one could ever defy him.

"Delia," Giovanni's voice got Delia out of her thoughts again. She looked at him for a long moment before coming to a choice.

She wouldn't go in mental circles anymore; she would let things flow as she did in the past. She would do whatever she felt like doing at the time. If she got herself into trouble, she would get out of it. If she got hurt, she would recover and if she felt Giovanni should never know about Ash, she would keep the secret. Until Giovanni and everything else around her began to make a shred of sense, she would just go with the flow and follow her instincts. "How about you give me a tour after breakfast?"

xoxox xox xoxox

That same morning in the Viridian Rocket base, Laiki was having a fit. She was out of her goody-goody nurse disguise, as she called it, and once again wearing her own version of the Team Rocket uniform. It consisted of a black shirt, lacking buttons or a zipper, instead folded as a kimono or yukata would be. It had a red R, though it was in the back. The shirt was held closed by a thick white band around her waist, tied into a bow on the back. 

She wore short black gloves that reached only up to her wrists, a black mini skirt and white boots. Her hair had bangs falling on her forehead and long green locks framing her face on both sides, trailing down to her mid back. The rest of her hair was blond and only reached down to her shoulders.

She had an attractive figure that made heads turn and had no qualms about using it to her advantage. Something that never seemed to change about Laiki was her love for gossip. "Do you know what I heard?" She threw her arms in the air as Comet entered the Team Rocket medical facilities below the Viridian Gym.

"What did you hear?" Purry, the Meowth, was riding on Comet's back since he was wearing his Team Rocket uniform instead of the ridiculous lime green suit from the previous day. His uniform was standard, consisting of a long sleeved black shirt with a red R on the chest, long black pants and matching white boots and gloves with a thin red line at the edge. He never liked wearing the hat, though his red hair stood out. He was carrying a folded up newspaper. 

Comet had known Laiki since he was a child and was used to her antics, regarding her as an older sister. He grew up in Team Rocket, learning from his father that he must always remain loyal no matter what. Raised on those beliefs, he would never betray Team Rocket, though he might consider doing things his own way if he firmly believed that it was for the good of Team Rocket and especially the boss. Lucky for him, he had never found himself faced with that kind of choice and followed his orders without question so far.

Laiki lowered her voice, as if keeping a secret from the pokemon that lay in various beds of different sizes. They were recovering from the previous day's commotion in the tunnels below the park. "I heard the boss was with a lady yesterday." Laiki eyed the pokemon, though none of them seemed to care about her revelation, they just lay still in their beds, their breathing being their only motion. 

White was the predominant color of the medical facilities and Laiki never liked it. She said it would be much more cost effective to get red sheets that didn't need to be replaced so often after being worn out by the strong detergent. White was hard to clean, not that it was her chore to do, but she felt sorry for whoever was on laundry duty dealing with bloody sheets. The tiles, the walls, the sheets, it was all white. The beds and various pieces of furniture had silver metal legs, though the surfaces were still white.

"We already knew that," Comet reminded, "Delia was here, remember?" The day Laiki forgot a piece of information about the life of any celebrity, and the boss counted as a celebrity for her, would be the day the world would surely end. "It was even in the newspaper."

"Lies!" Laiki squeaked, "I'm subscribed to a hundred and eight daily newsletters and they didn't mention anything about it, granted that I'm not done with all of them yet. Are you seriously telling me it's on the newspaper? Who would think to look for news on the newspaper?"

"Who indeed?" Comet sarcastically replied, though he understood that Laiki meant to say that the newspaper only had news she considered to be boring. "How do you get through so many newsletters a day anyway?"

Laiki pointed to the little black headphones resting on her neck united by a thin silver band, "I listen to them while I work. I just get them from my email with my phone and have it read them to me." Laiki looked towards the picture sitting in the corner of her desk framed in simple brown wood. "She was the one who told me about that trick, she loves technology and thinks reading is as outdated as paper."

The desk was cluttered with several gossip magazines, a blueberry granola bar lay on top of the tallest pile in the corner opposite to the picture. The photo showed Laiki and Comet along with another girl with blue hair and a Team Rocket uniform. Her uniform was the male version because she didn't like skirts and found the extra long gloves and boots to be uncomfortable, though she was more of a geek then a tomboy.

Comet almost expected Laiki to tease him and ask if he still liked her. She was older than him, albeit not by much, but Laiki had heard her say she preferred older men. The girl had been Purry's previous trainer, though Comet still thought of her as Purry's true trainer. She had given him the Meowth because she thought Purry would prefer to be the pokemon of a higher ranked Rocket.

Laiki snatched away the newspaper from Comet, "the gym leader's inspirational speech, blah, blah, blah. The artistic splendor of the accurate replica of an ancient Roman coliseum, blah, blah, blah." She scanned through the paper, "Aha! Gym leader Giovanni and mayor Antilles were seen with a mysterious lady who was their guest at the tournament... where's the juicy stuff? It doesn't say anything about them being together."

Comet paused, realizing what Laiki was talking about. He decided not to mention he saw Giovanni and Delia not long ago while playing waiter during breakfast. He was still supposed to be on break, but there was too much going on for him to leave. At least his current tasks were easy, nothing complicated like his usual sneaky nocturnal missions. "I'll need the newspaper back, I have to deliver it." Comet took the newspaper and hastily headed for the door. He was not surprised that Purry jumped off his shoulders. The Meowth was madly in love with the boss' Persian, but would never let him see her, not until she evolved. Until then, she would only see him if she could stay hidden while watching him.

"Are you taking the newspaper to the boss?" Laiki called after him, "be observant!" She condensed a whole world into those two words. It was as if she was expecting Comet to magically obtain the whole story of the previous evening's happenings by just glancing at Giovanni's expression. Comet was only going to leave the paper in Giovanni's office, not hand it to him personally. He knew the boss would not appreciate being interrupted.

xoxox xox xoxox

After breakfast, Delia got a tour, but it was not of the remodeled Team Rocket headquarters. Giovanni instead took her to a mansion west and slightly north of Viridian City. The mansion was situated at the very edge of Kanto, bordering Johto, with Victory Road not too far away. There were so many trees around it, that it remained hidden and mysterious with a slightly dark atmosphere due to the massive trees blocking the sun.

The mansion had marble-like white walls with climbing deep green vines that had matching green leaves. In the daylight it looked like another painting. At night, it probably looked ominous, as if it were haunted. Delia would love to see it. The mansion had a triangular redish-brown roof and glass windows framed in gold.

The path that led to the mansion looked bumpy with its white and gray stones placed close to each other to form the road. In reality, it was only a visual illusion; the road was whole, solid and smooth. The gates, with ten feet tall bars culminating in sharp points, were a glossy black. They surrounded the mansion sitting atop three feet of thick black bricks at the base of the fence. 

The large gates opened as Giovanni pressed a button on his tiny black cell phone with the red R. Delia realized it must be programmed to be more than just a cell phone. She felt watched as Giovanni's expensive black car, no doubt equipped with missiles, made it past the gates. The driveway was long with a circle in front of the mansion and enough space for two more cars to drive by on either side. 

There was a majestic fountain made of pure white marble in the center of the drive way's circle in front of the mansion. In the middle of the fountain there stood an elaborated sculpture of a winged Rapidash. The flames of the mane and tail were carved in exquisite detail. The wings made of cold hard stone looked as if they would feel as soft feathers to the touch. If the statue wasn't a pure white shiny color and instead painted in the fiery shades of the pokemon, Delia might have thought that the winged Rapidash was real. 

She couldn't help it but to remember the Christmas ornament she had received from Giovanni's mother during her secret visit on a cold December years ago. Ash loved that winged Rapidash. He was unaware of where his mother had obtained it. After Christmas ended and the tree and decorations were put away, Ash asked to keep the winged Rapidash in his room. Delia had smiled and given it to him, it was still in Ash's room to the present day.

The sparkling water of the fountain was too blue to be natural; it must have been artificially colored. Delia imagined a little Ash running around the round fountain's edge despite being told not to. He would fall into the bright blue water and emerge soon after. He would splash towards the edge of the fountain, only to turn back and look at the winged Rapidash. Then the little boy would climb on the pokemon statue and dream he had caught a real winged Rapidash. Such things never happened and they never would.

Feeling her eyes water, Delia tried to focus on examining her surroundings to stay occupied. The car where she and Giovanni were, was not the only one in the large drive way. There was also a long black limousine, a red convertible and two sports cars, one silver and one orange. Though she felt as if she, Giovanni and the Persian on her lap were the only ones there, the shy presence of others existed.

There was someone polishing the red convertible and someone else tending to the bushes that lined the base of the mansion with dark red roses. They were not wearing Team Rocket uniforms and they were both very quiet. They blended in with the background, their gazes unfelt, even when they curiously looked at Delia. They didn't know her.

The mansion's large double doors were opened and Giovanni got out of the car. Delia was still staring at the scenery in amazement. She didn't snap out of her bittersweet dream until a deep voice rung out with a polite, "milady?" 

Delia noticed then that at some point the butler had exited the mansion. He had opened her car door while she sat there staring at the regal residence. She got out of the car, seeing that Giovanni was waiting for her a mere step ahead. Giovanni placed his arm around her waist leading her inside. She followed silently up the few steps that led to the golden double doors, which the formally dressed butler closed behind them. 

Delia tried to keep her imagination quiet, but whenever she saw an article of decoration inside the mansion she pictured a past that never was. Seeing the various pokemon sculptures she couldn't help it but to imagine her little Ash, their little Ash, climbing all over them. Then the imaginary little boy would run towards the line of paintings on the walls. He would point at them and loudly declare that he would catch those pokemon one day. That is if the boy would have had any time to run around while being prepared for his future in Team Rocket. Such thoughts made the imaginary boy disappear as Delia returned to reality.

Delia felt as if she was being escorted to meet the king and queen of a distant land. She didn't know how to behave in front of royalty and the slightest offense would bring forth a war. That was how she felt and it didn't go unnoticed by Giovanni, "you're so tense."

Delia looked at him wondering if there was a trace left of the Giovanni she used to know. She refused to believe that stubborn, unpredictable and wild man was gone. The man who ran around with a gang getting into mischief and causing trouble with somewhat noble side-effects couldn't have fully disappeared. "Can we go on a date today, to wherever I choose?"

Giovanni attributed Delia's tension to a feeling of guilt. The guilt was rooted on that she was working for the enemy, spying on him. Giovanni had no doubts about his theory. Her request was extremely suspicious, but he would pretend he didn't know anything about her secret plans, "of course, wherever you want."

Delia paused and thought about her request again, she wasn't sure where she wanted to go. "Before that, I want to see the rest of your pokemon, I've missed them. I want to help you take care of them like I used to."

Giovanni knew for certain Delia would never hurt innocent pokemon, although he wasn't gullible enough to hand over his newest pokemon to a spy. His pokemon varied over the years, he changed them around whenever he came across a stronger one. Even so, he still kept his pokemon from long ago. He would let her train them. Maybe it would bring her good memories and speed up the process of bringing her to his side.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia got a tour of the mansion, minus the secret basements. After that, they went outside so Delia would have plenty of space to get reacquainted with the pokemon she had not seen in years. Giovanni watched as Delia showered his pokemon with attention. They were out in the backyard with the mansion casting a shadow on the space behind it. 

Golem, Machamp, Rhydon, Cloyster and Kingler were all there. They looked a little on edge at first, growling at Delia and backing away when they caught Giovanni's scolding look. It had been so long since they had received such close attention that they had all but forgotten what it felt like to truly be cared for. The only one that got any attention from Giovanni was Persian, who sat by his side as he observed Delia. Cloyster and Kingler were, ironically, the most reluctant to go near Delia.

"It seems that the bond between trainer and pokemon has faded, but it must still be there," little by little, the pokemon relaxed with Delia's gentle words and affections. "Giovanni, you haven't been giving them the attention they deserve," he should have expected her to say something like that. He didn't reply and she didn't really expect a reply.

His cell phone rang and he answered it uneager, while Delia continued tending to the pokemon, "what is it?"

The call was from Luke, who had been working in Johto, "dude, Giovanni, I like heard Delia was like back, man!"

Giovanni knew Comet would tell his father. The boy was loyal, having been raised in Team Rocket. He was a good agent, but there was no such a thing as the perfect Rocket agent. "Yes," Giovanni kept his reply simple, so as to not call Delia's attention to the conversation.

"Can I like talk to her, like please?" No matter how many years passed, Luke would forever keep the very same style of speech. It was carried over to his writing, much to Giovanni's annoyance when he had to read a report. Since it seemed that Luke was simply incapable of writing in any other way, Giovanni had someone 'translate' and summarize Luke's written rambles into a decent report before attempting to read it.

"Not now," It was not good to give Delia too many reminders of the past. She would have only the ones Giovanni selected. He didn't want her to think of anything unfortunate and reestablish her resolve to go through with her mission for the anti-Rocket group. The group's full details were still a mystery. Ash was a suspect of being a part of it and as a result those who accompanied him. 

There were traitors in Team Rocket being internally hunted, which caused the tension to run high in Viridian. The true extent of the group was still unknown. Giovanni needed Delia as his double agent for everything to progress swiftly and smoothly in Team Rocket's favor. He had to be sure of her loyalty before he sent her out on a mission.

"Like later?" Luke was satisfied enough with Giovanni's answer. He wasn't expecting to be allowed to talk to Delia at all; at least not so soon after her mysterious return. "Thanks, man! I like totally appreciate it, you know?"

"Just make sure you finish your work," Giovanni noticed that Delia was watching him from the corner of her eyes while she played with the pokemon. Persian had joined them as well. She spun around laughing along with Machamp, her hands in his, her long brown hair flowing in the breeze. It was like a cheesy scene from a fluffy movie. Thankfully, the pokemon controlled his strength and Delia wasn't sent flying when he let her go. She was left a little dizzy, but amused.

Delia stumbled dizzily towards Giovanni, still in a fit of laughter. "You really need to relax once in a while," she took his little cell phone and pressed the button to turn it off. She placed it in his hand again and he pocketed it, not really expecting any important calls anyway. The anti-Rocket group wouldn't strike so soon, not while they were waiting for Delia's report.

Giovanni took her hands, but instead of spinning around aimlessly, he pulled her towards him and kissed her. He stopped when he heard the mansion's backdoor opening a short while later. 

The butler exited the mansion to the backyard and shifted uncomfortably. He was regretful of having stumbled upon the scene and hoped that the boss wasn't too angry. The breeze blew, moving a single auburn hair out of place, the rest perfectly brushed back. His dark violet eyes remained fixed on Giovanni's shoes, even without looking, he knew the Rocket leader was glaring. "Sir, there is a call for you from agent Comet. He says it is important."

Comet must have been calling about something truly significant if he was being so insistent, after being unable to reach the deactivated cell phone. Without another word, Giovanni took the wireless phone the butler was holding with a bad feeling building up, "what happened?"

Comet's urgent voice came from the receiver, "there was a donation ceremony at the Vermilion City orphanage. It was sponsored by Bane Ackbar, CEO of Ackbar Inc." 

The company produced medical supplies of various types and was divided into two branches, for human and pokemon products. They made pain killers, anesthesia, medical lotions and several others things. The company purchased experimentation subjects from Team Rocket. They had been buying from Team Rocket for years and shared a strong business relation. In the public eye Ackbar Inc. was known for its charitable events for both pokemon and humans. 

"The ceremony was attacked in the name of Team Rocket; it's all in chaos at Vermilion City. Apparently Rockets just stormed in and started shooting left and right. Boss, this is big." Comet couldn't find the words to elaborate further. Team Rocket had not attacked its own ally, but it was made to look like they did.

Giovanni gripped the phone tightly; he wasn't expecting something like that. It was more extreme than what Han had done years ago. It was worse than the things that happened when little anti-Rocket groups emerged occasionally over the years. Perhaps the elusive Ash was smarter than he was given credit for. Delia wasn't a spy, she was a distraction. She was supposed to make Giovanni think that they would wait to gather more information before attacking. She was there to make him lower his guard thinking he still had time to prepare. He couldn't stand having someone a step ahead of him like that. 

Delia would never approve of such a ruthless attack on innocent lives. Giovanni knew she must have been unaware of the anti-Rocket group's plans. Most likely to the extent of her knowledge, she was nothing but an information gatherer. That didn't change the fact that she had served as a distraction that made him think the enemies were biding their time.

"Keep it under control, set the security to level red and start carrying out plan fourteen. I'll lead the operation from Viridian," Giovanni would need to command the mission in continuous communication with the field agents. He had to keep the damage to a minimum, make sure business with Ackbar Inc. was fixed, get rid of the police. He had to find a way to prove that this wasn't Team Rocket's doing or business would be affected.

Giovanni realized what they were trying to do. They wanted to strain Team Rocket's political and business relations and push the police into taking action. What was keeping the authorities at bay was that they feared the casualties that an all out war with Team Rocket would bring. Because of that, they would be fine as long as they operated behind the scenes. If those casualties were a reality either way, they would have no reason to hold back and no choice but to fight. Giovanni had many resources, but he knew they were not infinite and it wouldn't get him any closer to controlling the world if he wasted them. 

Taking over the world wasn't the hard part, maintaining control was. Giovanni knew that taking control of a territory by sheer power wouldn't work for too long. He thought it would work years ago, but realized that eventually it would all fall into a constant war that could hardly be called domination.

He would move in slowly. Making the economy of Kanto, Johto and other regions depend on Team Rocket to the point where they would collapse without it was important. He made that plan a reality in Kanto, Johto and the Orange Islands, with progress being steadily made in other regions. The recent event was terrible for business and it affected Team Rocket's underground image as well. What's the use of fearing an attack if the fear doesn't serve as a tool of survival? If the attack is inevitable without a cause, what's the use in trying to prevent it? Immediate action had to be taken.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 47: Give me Support

Sometime in the future... The strong Charizard flapped his wings and gained altitude. "Give us some cover Pyro," his trainer instructed. The Charizard called Pyro let out a stream of white smoke; it had taken him a while to master creating smoke like that. It had taken the woman riding on him quite some time to reach her current level as well. The fire pokemon kept himself steady in the dark night sky. On his back he carried not only his trainer, but also Peachy, a Pikachu, a laptop computer and a small satellite dish. The dish communicated with the Rocket satellite in the atmosphere amplifying the signal from the computer. A Porygon-Z by the name of Prism was contained in the laptop.

The woman by the name of Millennia, more commonly known as Pixel, was wearing a slightly modified Team Rocket uniform which was more comfortable. The black pants went to her knees and her black boots had silver metal soles. The sleeves of her black shirt with a red R were also short. She wore black gloves with silver metal knuckles. She wasn't there to fight though; it wasn't her specialty, though she had learned the very basics of self defense given time to practice. Her fingers danced rapidly on the keyboard, her dark eyes focused on the screen as she worked together with the PorygonZ to hack into the building below.

The portable equipment could receive extra power from the Pikachu if needed. She adjusted the earpiece she wore as her blue ponytail blew in the wind. "Motion sensors deactivated; first level electronic locks open. You might run into some locks you'll have to pick the old way. Don't touch the fences, they are constantly electrified and they have no mechanism to deactivate them wirelessly."

"No problem; I'm going in," several feet below outside the tall fences, there was a man with red hair and blue eyes by the name of Comet. He stayed in the back of the building where the lights didn't reach him. "Go Rykros," he released the powerful bug pokemon from his pokeball and hopped on his back. "Let's go over the fence quickly." The Scyther flew over the fence, being able to carry his trainer easily after exercising with weights regularly. Comet hopped off on the other side and recalled his pokemon, "so far, so good."

"I'm in the camera system," Pixel's triumphant voice came from Comet's earpiece. She could see him outside in his standard Team Rocket uniform. Anyone else accessing the system saw nothing but a still empty image. "From your position, move twenty feet to the right, that will lead you to the least guarded hallway via a back door, if you can pick the lock."

"Watch me," Comet grinned, he dashed towards the aforementioned back door, dodging the circles of rotating lights. He stayed close to the wall as he moved in, "looks like a double lock, there's the lock on the doorknob and an electronic one."

"I'm not detecting it," Pixel replied, "it must be a highly isolated electronic lock. Plug me in," she grinned, even if her wireless didn't reach that lock at first, she would get to it anyway.

Comet took a small card from his utility belt. It was a plain black card with nothing but a red R to identify it. It looked like a regular card without a use beyond decoration, but it was in fact a wireless transmitter. He inserted the card into the keycard space and got to work on the door knob's lock with a few other tools.

Pixel watched as her computer screen changed when the lock became accessible. The card Comet inserted into it could unlock just about anything given the proper use. "Let's do this, Prism," the Porygon-Z on the screen looked eager, once again working with her trainer to unlock something else.

Comet heard the small number pad next to the keycard slot beep as numbers appeared on its tiny screen. "All done," he heard the click that indicated the door's physical lock was no longer an obstacle.

The final beep for the last digit was heard and the electronic lock was undone, "same here," Pixel voiced.

Comet proceeded inside, his footsteps speedy but inaudible. "You said the least guarded hallway," he whispered quietly.

"Yup," Pixel confirmed, "there is no unguarded route, but you don't sound disappointed. Whatever it is your thinking, you'll get your chance now, because there's a guard going your way. I bet you can't avoid him."

Comet grinned, "I'm up for a fight but I'll take that bet." He jumped and stretched out in the hallway. His hands and feet could barely reach the opposing walls left and right. He pushed on the walls staying close to the ceiling and slipped away right above the guard.

Pixel followed Comet's signal on the screen. "The elevator is coming up, occupied," she opened the door.

Comet hurried towards it and hopped down to the floor. He looked into the elevator shaft as the elevator box went up. He stepped onto it rather than jump, so that he could get on as quietly as possible.

"Your floor's coming up," Pixel watched the images on the building's security cameras, "it's too heavily guarded, a confrontation is inevitable."

The elevator shaft door opened. Though the elevator was destined for the last floor, Comet's target was in the second to last floor. He jumped out catching the first guard by surprise, his fist harshly colliding with the other man's face. The guard was knocked out on impact. The room in the middle of the floor was surrounded by a hallway that went all around it, constantly packed with guards.

"We have an intruder! Send backup!" Another guard desperately called. Only one intruder had been spotted so far, but the red R on his chest warned that even one could be plenty of trouble. Plus for all they knew, others may be waiting to attack. A swift kick relived the guard of his gun a split second after it was taken from its holster, before he could even aim.

"Ten of them; take them out. Back up won't be coming," as an extra gift, aside from blocking the enemy's radio contact, Pixel sent out a loud screeching noise to their ear pieces.

Comet noticed right away what it was when He saw his next opponents cringe suddenly losing their focus. "Hey Pix, don't forget I won our bet back there," Comet skillfully fought, taking out one opponent after another.

"It was just dumb luck," Pixel scoffed, though she knew it was a lie. This was only the beginning, but then again, it was always the beginning when the goals to reach were so high. Pixel grinned allowing the excitement of the mission to wash over her as she listened to the sounds of battle. In the past, she never imagined she would be able to go on such an important mission and actually be of assistance. She clearly remembered when the series of events that changed her started, it was right after the first time she met Delia.

xoxox xox xoxox

At Giovanni's mansion in the present time... Giovanni shoved the wireless phone back into the frightened butler's hands and recalled all his pokemon to their pokeballs. Delia was looking at him with a worried expression, "what happened?"

"Something came up," he led her inside the mansion hastily; she could still be useful, "I want you to stay here."

"I want to go with you!" She refused to be left out, but knew the argument was useless. She had just returned, Giovanni didn't trust her and she still didn't understand his behavior towards her. She wasn't sure what he could be trying to accomplish, but she wanted to find out. She followed him as he headed up to the forth floor of the mansion.

The glass elevator opened and they both exited. Giovanni opened a door with Delia still following him closely, "stay here."

Delia frowned, "no, I want to go with you!" She insisted urgently.

"You've caused enough trouble already," Giovanni didn't have any more time to waste. He shoved Delia into the guestroom and closed the door. The electronic lock beeped in response to the keycard and numbers entered in the little pad next to the door.

"Giovanni!" Delia screamed at the top of her lungs. She tightened her fists and pounded on the polished wood door. "Open this door! You can't keep me locked up in here!" There was no response. She knew that he was gone and that no one from the mansion's staff would let her out. She twisted the door knob helplessly. She hit the door until her hands hurt and shouted until her throat burned. Then her tears silenced her.

Delia didn't understand, one second Giovanni was being suspiciously nice to her and the next he was locking her up. If only she knew what thoughts were going through his head. If only she knew what that sudden phone call was about.

Delia sobbed and closed her eyes tightly. She turned around and pressed her back against the door. She slid down the glossy black wood and sat on the floor. The carpet was soft and thick, a dark shade of red. It was the same color as the bed sheets and pillows, but those were lined with gold. The bed was very large, enough to fit three people with eight pillows piled on it.

The walk-in closet was empty, its double doors matching the black wood of the door, with golden handles to match the door knob. The golden lined glass window was closed, the golden curtains motionless at its side, untouched by the light breeze outside. There was a big screen plasma TV and a desk. On the desk there was a fancy black pen decorated with a green leaf and a golden lined white notepad with a faded green leaf watermark in the center. The leaves were similar to the earth badge.

One of the walls was lined with shelves filled with various books, mostly about pokemon and a few fictional stories. The books looked as if they had never been opened, very different from Delia's copy of Mysteries of the Earth. That book was on the coffee table of Delia's living room in her little Pallet town house, its cover worn. Delia had read Mysteries of the Earth so many times she had the book practically memorized, with the most interesting passages highlighted in yellow. She would read over every page endlessly and imagine what event brought each discovery.

"Um... excuse me," Delia looked up at the quiet voice, realizing that she was not alone in the room. She didn't know for how long the Rocket had been standing there waiting to be noticed. The girl's hair was dark blue and her eyes were such a dark brown they looked black contrasting with her white skin. She was wearing a Team Rocket uniform, though it looked like the style males usually wore. It included long black pants, a long sleeved black shirt with a red R and short white gloves and boots lined in red. Her hair was in a ponytail, it was perhaps mid back length, though the end of the ponytail only reached her shoulders. Her bangs covered her forehead and looked longer than they were due to her posture with her head lowered to look at Delia sitting on the floor.

Delia stood up and smoothed out the folds of her sky blue dress out of habit. She tugged her long brown hair behind her ear, revealing three small diamonds cascading from her earrings. She shifted her weight from one foot to another, as if looking for little things to do to buy more time to compose herself. "Did Giovanni assign you to guard me?" Delia wondered if he had planned to lock her up all along. It had looked as if it was done in the rush of the moment after that mysterious call.

"Not really, I was just changing a lightbulb," the girl tilted her head towards a door that led to an adjacent bathroom. Shiny white tiles were the only things visible from the door's slightly open position.

Delia sighed; it didn't look like the girl knew what was going on. "Can you open this door?"

The girl looked at the door with uncertainty, as if imagining what the boss would say if she opened it. At the same she was wondering if the card and code she had would work. "If the boss locked it then we're trapped," she finally replied after some thought. She decided it was best not to further annoy Giovanni. It was bad enough that she had gotten herself trapped along with his guest, simply because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Delia wasn't sure she believed the girl, but at least she still had her little cell phone. Upon trying to call Giovanni to demand to be set free, she found that the device had been deactivated. She looked around the room, her gaze pausing on a lamp on one of the black nightstands beside the bed. She couldn't help it but to think of Ash and hoped she could escape soon. She wanted to be out of trouble before Ash realized that her absence without communication was too long to be caused by forgetfulness or distraction. Even when Ash traveled he still spoke to his mother over the phone often.

The lamp reminded Delia of Ash because she knew he would really like it. It was shaped as a Charizard of glass with the light bulb hidden in a massive breath of fire coming from its mouth. She continued scanning the room until she spotted a glossy red phone on the desk. She picked up the receiver hopefully and let out a breath of exasperation. The line was dead; they must have blocked it from outside.

Delia's next idea was a desperate one; she walked towards the window and found that it was unlocked. She pulled the golden lined glass open and felt the soft breeze of the escape route. "You're not thinking about climbing down with the vines, are you?" The Rocket girl inquired with worry, "those vines aren't strong enough to hold a person. You'll fall for sure!"

"I'll take my chances," Delia looked down; she would be seriously injured if she fell from there. She was in the forth floor, but felt as if she was much higher up when she thought about falling.

The girl let out a breath of relief, seeing Delia stepping away from the window. A short moment of silence passed and her cell phone suddenly rang. It was the catchy tune of one of Akira's songs, a fast paced mix of pop and punk rock.

Delia snapped into attention, "your phone."

"Even if you call someone they won't open the door," the girl tried to persuade Delia out of trying to steal the cell phone. She took it out of her pocket and watched Delia guardedly. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Laiki, where are you?" The voice came from the cell phone, unheard by Delia.

"Hi! I'm at the boss' place and I think I'll probably have to stay here for a while," the girl replied, curious about her friend's urgent tone.

"Okay, I just called to warn you," Laiki hastily continued, she sounded stressed and frustrated, "after the false Rockets attacked Vermilion City the cops started poking around the Viridian Gym. The press has the boss cornered denying the suspicions that he's a Team Rocket supporter. It's best if you don't come back for a while. I have to go, don't try calling HQ or anyone."

The call was hastily ended before the blue haired girl could inquire further. Delia was watching her intently, pressuring her with her eyes to talk. If the press was involved, she reasoned that the event was no secret. "False Rockets attacked Vermilion City."

Delia's eyes widened, "false Rockets?" Her voice was shaky. She walked over to the bed and sat down. "What happened?"

"I don't know, but the press is all over the place in Viridian City," the girl replied with growing worry.

Upon hearing that, Delia looked around the room for the TV's remote control. She spotted it on the night stand on the other side of the bed, opposite to the one with the Charizard lamp. She turned on the TV and one of Akira's music videos came on. The singer showed off the potency of her voice as she danced on a stage with abundant blue and purple lights. She was wearing a black leather mini skirt, a bright pink strapless top, white platform boots, yellow star earrings and a pink chocker with a yellow star on it. The tight outfit left little to the imagination.

Delia changed the channel quickly until she found the news. On the screen she saw Giovanni. He was angry, she could tell, but it was perfectly hidden behind a mask of sorrowful concern. Delia listened as he played the part of the good gym leader. He was denying all involvement with Team Rocket and expressing his sadness and indignation concerning the recent Vermilion City catastrophe.

After Giovanni's forced press conference ended, the reporters where left with mayor Antilles to defend himself of similar accusations. Delia kept watching the TV in a trance. She occasionally changed the channels from one news program to another, seeking a full report about the events that occurred in Vermilion City so that she could better understand them.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Ash and Misty were in route four, heading towards Cerulean City. "Chu, chu!" Pikachu cried in pain while Misty cuddled him on her lap, trying to console him.

Ash made a sad face, his eyes were watery and his lower lip was puckered. "Please officer Jenny, please let us get to the Cerulean City Pokemon Center," he begged, "my poor Pikachu is on the verge of death!"

The blue haired woman looked at the little yellow pokemon with compassion. "I'll lead you there," she offered hurriedly. Without even waiting for a reply, she ran back to her police car.

"Wait, officer, I understand you're busy, you really don't have to!" It was too late, Jenny was determined and nothing Ash said could change her mind.

"Follow me!" Jenny called out before starting up her white and blue car. She was ready to dash down the road at full speed.

Ash's little indigo car was pulled over on the side of the road after he had been caught speeding. Ash and Misty had spent the previous night at Pewter City in Brock's pokemon breeding center. One of his siblings took care of it while he was gone. Unaware of the happenings at Vermilion City or Delia's predicament, Ash and Misty made their way to Cerulean City. Misty wanted to personally give her sisters the news of her engagement.

"How lucky, we get a police escort and everything," Misty commented sarcastically. Ash sped down the road following Jenny, who was clearing the way for him. The siren on top of her car was blaring with the blue lights rotating like a lighthouse. Misty's eyes screamed the phrase, 'I told you so,' referring to when she quietly warned Ash that his hasty plan would backfire.

"Aw c'mon, I've never gotten a ticket in my entire life and I don't want to change that now," Ash defended, his eyes focused on the road.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you don't speed all the time," Misty continued. She wasn't really bothered by it, she sounded teasing.

"Everyone gets into a little mischief now and then," Ash grinned.

Pikachu laughed and hopped on the dashboard. He was enjoying the speed of the ride. He wasn't feeling ill at all, let alone on the verge of death as Ash so dramatically told Jenny. The officer ahead came to a sudden stop at an intersection and Ash slammed his foot on the breaks. It caused Pikachu to fall backwards, though he was thankfully caught by Misty. She held him securely the rest of the way. Jenny continued after a few seconds' pause, with Ash following.

A short while later, the little indigo car stopped in front of the Cerulean City Pokemon Center behind the police car. "We're here, hurry inside!" Jenny urged. She looked like all the other Jennys, wearing the same police uniform, with the same hairstyle and the same face. Only the symbol on her hat was different.

Ash and Misty wasted no time rushing into the Pokemon Center. They hoped that Pikachu's act was good enough to at least convince nurse Joy to take him to the back for an examination. The Pokemon Center looked identical to any other with it's white tiles, white walls, tall ceiling, plastic chairs, video phones and PCs. Seeing that Jenny was still following them, Ash continued his act, "nurse Joy, we have an emergency, Pikachu is dying!"

"Chu!" Pikachu let out an ear splitting wail. It made all those present cringe, especially Misty who was still cradling him.

"That poor dear!" Nurse Joy exclaimed; she looked like all the other Joys with a light pink dress and a white apron over it. She had pink hair, a nurse cap and the same face as the others. "He sounds like he's in a lot of pain," she gently picked up Pikachu from Misty's arms and took him to the back where she laid him on a bed.

Ash and Misty followed Joy, but they were not the only ones, a concern Jenny was there as well. Ash didn't know how to make her leave without sounding like a horrible ingrate.

"Chu... chu..." Pikachu's breathing was heavy, his expression contorted in pain, "chu!" He wailed again.

"Chansey, chansey," the pink nurse pokemon tried to console her patient and calm him to no avail.

"Oh dear, if this is what I think it is," nurse Joy's expression became more serious and worried, "I might have to operate, but I-"

Pikachu's eyes widened upon hearing about an operation, "pikachu!" He let out a massive amount of electricity that made Chansey faint and knocked Ash, Misty, Joy and Jenny to the floor in pain.

The humans struggled to get up, with Ash being the first to recover, followed by Misty. The couple helped the other two women to their feet. "As I was saying, I need to conduct some tests to make sure it's not just a build up of excess electricity," Joy finished in a daze.

The medical tests showed that Pikachu was perfectly healthy. In fact he was one of the healthiest pokemon Joy had come across in a long time. Thus it was concluded that the cause for his pain was indeed a build up of excess electricity, which he had already let out on them.

"It looks like everything turned out alright in the end," officer Jenny breathed in relief. She was honestly glad that Pikachu was not in any serious danger after all.

"I'm sorry about the commotion," Ash apologized, "I really thought Pikachu was in mortal danger, thanks for helping us get here. Even if it wasn't serious, I'll still think of this day as the day when the noble officer Jenny saved Pikachu's life." Ash hoped he was still off the hook for his ticket.

Jenny smiled proudly, "I'm just doing my duty! Speaking of which, I have to get back to work now," with a look of satisfaction, the officer finally left.

After the detour at the Pokemon Center, Ash and Misty headed to the Cerulean City gym. Ash parked the car in front of it and they both got out. Pikachu was riding on Ash's shoulder as Misty cheerfully rushed in to call her sisters. "Daisy! Violet! Lily!" There was no reply at first, until Misty called their names again, even louder.

Lily's voice answered, "in the living room," with a tense tone. Ash and Misty hurried to their location. The living room of the home and gym of the Waterflower family had predominant shades of blue. The couch was a deep ocean blue, the carpet a light cerulean blue, the walls a pale sky blue. Seashell ornaments could be seen throughout the room.

Daisy was nowhere to be found; perhaps she had gone out with her fiance. Her wedding would be in just a couple of weeks. Misty felt ignored because Violet and Lily were paying more attention to the TV than to her. She was also confused by Lily's tone. They saw a familiar image on screen, "that's the Viridian City mayor," Misty observed.

The report was just ending and neither Ash nor Misty caught enough of it to understand what it was about. "Were they talking about the pokemon tournament?" Ash curiously inquired.

Violet shook her head, "no," she got up with a worried expression, "I'm going," she began to walk away, but Lily stopped her.

"Isn't it better if you like stay here?" The pink haired Waterflower sister insisted. Lily was the second youngest next to Misty, but often felt as if she was the youngest, since Misty was away traveling most of the time.

"Kenobi is probably feeling terrible, he like hasn't even called me!" Violet fumed, though her expression soon changed to worry, "he's having a family crisis with the press hounding his poor father like that. Did you know he has a heart condition? My future father in law," never mind that they weren't engaged yet, "will be like driven to the grave if they don't give him some room to breathe. I'm sure Kenobi is upset about this whole thing. How dare they link his family and their friend, the Viridian gym leader, to Team Rocket? They are like not only offending Viridian City and the Antilles family, but also gym leaders everywhere!"

Misty remembered that Violet had said something about dating the son of a mayor, though she hadn't been paying too much attention to her sister's love high ramblings. Violet had been saying too much, too fast, with a lot of it being gibberish, so Misty didn't quite catch the details about her sister's boyfriend.

Refusing to allow anyone to stop her, Violet rushed out, determined to go to Viridian City. Lily sighed in resignation, allowing herself to fall back into the couch. She turned off the TV, where the normal programming had resumed after the news bulletin. "This is a disaster," she grimaced, throwing her head back on the soft blue backrest and closing her eyes.

Misty sat down beside her sister with a serious expression. Ash took a seat next to his fiance, with Pikachu now on his lap. "Will you please explain what in the world is going on?" The youngest Waterflower insisted impatiently. Her sisters' behavior alarmed her. Misty had a feeling that they were not just being overly dramatic.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. This has a reference to a specific scene in Mewtwo Returns. Gio isn't wearing orange in the present time because in the new series, Best Wishes, he has a new outfit. Mysteries of the Earth is a book Giovanni wrote, which is mentioned in a manga. I know Jenny has green hair later, but in the first few episodes she had blue. Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon.


	13. Part 13

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 48: Give me Allies

Lily, Misty, Ash and Pikachu sat at the Cerulean City gym's living room, with the last three still lost in confusion. Lily took a deep breath and tried to organize her thoughts. "You like know about Vermilion, right?"

"Wrong," Misty was as puzzled as ever. If anything happened in Vermilion City she was completely unaware of it. "Wait," she paused, her expression thoughtful. Misty remembered Violet mentioning Viridian City and it was the Viridian mayor who was on TV, "Vermilion or Viridian?" She inquired wondering if her sister had gotten the names mixed up. Either way, Misty still didn't know what could be happening in Viridian or Vermilion that was alarming, other than the destroyed stadium.

"Vermilion, the attack was in Vermilion, but they like got Viridian involved too," Lily dramatized with worry.

Misty frowned, her alarm growing, "what attack? Where is Daisy? What's going on?"

Though he was usually the most impatient of the two, Ash placed his hand on Misty's shoulder to calm her. The announcement of their engagement was far from their minds at the time. "Start from the beginning," he encouraged Lily to tell them the full story.

Lily nodded and began her explanation, her expression grave, "you know Daisy's fiance, Lando Ackbar, is the son of Bane Ackbar of Ackbar Inc."

Misty nodded; Daisy's wedding date was near. Misty's dress was already prepared for her to step into her role as a bridesmaid. She still had to drag Ash shopping for an appropriate tuxedo, he kept procrastinating. She knew Daisy intended to go all out in her wedding.

Lily continued with her face unchanged, "earlier today, Lando's father was like being honored for a donation his company was making to an orphanage in Vermilion City. Lando was there watching and so was Daisy. She called and said she wasn't injured but Lando and Bane were; she said she would call again later. I like tried to call her again but she has her phone off. At least no other attacks were reported on the news," realizing her audience was still confused, Lily elaborated, "Team Rocket attacked during the donation ceremony and like a lot of people were injured, some were even like... killed."

"Killed?" Misty gasped, "that's what the news said? That people were killed?" She paled in absolute shock. Team Rocket had never done anything so extreme before, at least not publicly.

"That's impossible!" It was quite possible and Ash knew it, but he refused to believe it. "Team Rocket are thieves, not murderers. I would believe it if you said they took prisoners. Injuring people and kidnapping for ransom is something I can picture them doing, but killing?"

"Daisy told me about it," Lily snapped, "and it was on the news!"

Misty sat in silent shock while Ash let the revelation sink in with frustration. "What about Viridian City? What about the gym leader?" Ash remembered that Violet mentioned him. His mother was still at Viridian with Giovanni as far as Ash knew.

"They say that Giovanni, the Viridian gym leader and Rune Antilles, mayor of Viridian City, secretly support Team Rocket. Rune is Kenobi's father so Violet was worried about them. The press is like all over them all of a sudden, it makes no sense!" Lily scowled in frustration.

Outside of the public eye, it was known that Giovanni was with Team Rocket and it was also known that a direct confrontation was a bad idea. The pressure of the press was retaliation for the Vermilion attack. They hoped that Team Rocket would go back to keeping a low profile and larger casualties could be avoided.

"Of course it doesn't!" Ash got defensive, while Misty was lost in thought. Usually a son would be a little more hesitant to accept his mother dating someone who was not his father. However, in Ash's case he didn't feel that Giovanni was replacing anyone because his father had never been around. He went straight to the phase of acceptance and even welcomed the gym leader's presence.

"Ash," Misty's voice was barely above a whisper, "do you remember what Brock said? The gym leader did look a lot like-"

"No way!" Ash interrupted, "that's just a coincidence, they're accusing him falsely. There's no way he's evil, my mother knew him, she's known him since before I was born. Besides, he's the gym leader. You heard him at the tournament; you saw how much people admired him. He tried to be so generous to me when he offered to battle at the gym and.... and Persian! Persian is to Giovanni as Pikachu is to me. I can't doubt him any more than I can doubt myself."

Misty took a deep breath and let it out slowly, she knew there was no arguing with Ash when he got defensive like that. "His resemblance to that man might have gotten him into trouble... or maybe it's something else entirely. It could be political pressure. Maybe Antilles' opposing candidate is trying to use the Vermilion City crisis to his advantage. The gym leader is caught in the middle because he's the mayor's friend."

Ash's frown deepened, "that's a dirty trick!" He couldn't believe it, using a tragic event that happened clear across the region to stain the reputation of the Viridian City mayor and his friends. He was upset beyond words and he could imagine his mother was upset as well. "I'm calling mom," Ash announced, taking his cell phone from his pocket, but he was unable to reach Delia. "It says the unit is deactivated, maybe the battery ran out."

Lily got up suddenly, "I'm going to find Daisy."

"You can't just rush into Vermilion City," Misty stopped her, jumping to her feet and blocking her sister's path.

"I can't leave her!" Lily insisted, her voice rising.

"I'll go find her, you should wait here," Misty marched out with a steady pace, followed by Ash.

"I'm going too, Team Rocket has really crossed the line this time," Ash insisted.

"I'm going alone if you like don't want me with you," Lily was determined to find her older sister. Daisy had taken care of her more than her parents. Seeing her determination, Ash and Misty had to agree to take Lily with them.

xoxox xox xoxox

At Giovanni's mansion, Delia grew tired of flipping through the channels. The TV returned to its normal programming and the few scattered news bulletins that came on were only repetitions of what she already knew. She reminded herself that the recent catastrophe was not truly the work of Team Rocket. What happened was not ordered by Giovanni, but the thought of his retaliation worried her.

"How long will it take to stop this false Rocket group?" Delia didn't expect to receive an informative answer as she turned off the TV.

"I don't know," the Rocket girl who was trapped with her in the room replied. If she had not been distracted by her curiosity looking out the window at the lady that was with the boss, she would have left before she ended up trapped with said lady. She would have been on break and gone straight to Cerulean City to a video game convention. She wouldn't have been caught in the following series of events.

"What's your name?" Delia asked, feeling odd that she had been trapped with that girl for so long without knowing as much as her name.

"Huh?" The girl was taken by surprise. She paused, as if replaying the question in her mind since it was so unexpected. "Millennia, but my friends call me Pixel," it was a nickname she received due to her love of video games and technology. 

"My name is Delia, let's be friends, so I'll call you Pixel," Delia was trapped and there was nothing she could do about it, that reality had sunk in. 

"I can't let you out," Pixel reminded as she took a seat next to Delia on the large bed.

"I know," Delia paused and a heavy silence hung in the air for a few seconds, she didn't like it. Maybe if she talked to someone, the only person available, the seconds wouldn't drag on so slowly. 

Ash was probably at Cerulean City celebrating his engagement to Misty with her sisters. Delia knew Misty would want to tell them about it in person right away. The visit to Cerulean City would probably be similar to past visits. Ash would have a story to tell about how Daisy, Violet and Lily dragged him and Misty on a shopping spree and drove him insane making him try on clothes he would never wear. They would get a lot of clothes for themselves and make Ash carry the bags. At the end of the day Misty would apologize for her family's antics and give Ash a kiss for having survived so bravely. 

"Why did you join Team Rocket?" Delia finally broke the silence once more.

Pixel was quiet, blending into the background like Leah used to do. Her eyes held a stubbornness that had not been present on Leah's submissive gaze. "I like it, it's the best job I could have."

"Team Rocket is a criminal organization," Delia pointed out.

"Team Rocket is strong; the police won't come after us. Besides, I haven't gotten myself into trouble, unless you count this," Pixel tried to stay as positive as she could in the situation.

"Will you tell me the story?" Delia desperately needed to keep her mind busy or she would continuously think of the worse.

"If you really want to hear it... I used to live at Cinnabar Island, but I never fit in. I was the indoor geek in a town of beach loving people. Things improved when I started to attend college in Fuchsia City. I started working with Team Rocket a couple of days after I graduated. I didn't like living at home, dad was overprotective and mother was... totally crazy. She was panicky all the time because of an experience she had back when I was a year old. My parents both worked at a local hotel and I stayed at the hotel's childcare." 

Pixel continued, "There was an act of terrorism on a nearby volcano, which caused a fire at the hotel. Dad went to make sure all the guests knew they had to leave immediately while mother went to get me. The babysitter had already taken the children to safety, but mother was apparently too panicked to realize that. She inhaled too much smoke and passed out. Dad got her out of there and she recovered, physically at least. She got on my nerves badly and I didn't want to go back to Cinnabar Island. They were looking for..." hackers, "office personnel to work for Team Rocket. Since I was in the computer field, I was offered a job. I wasn't at the top of my class, but I had pretty good grades and was at least in the top ten."

A rush of memories returned to Delia, "was that volcano called Princess by any chance?"

"Yeah," Pixel confirmed, "I guess it must have been all over the news back then."

"Was there no other way?" Delia asked softly. It was all too ironic. Han's act of terrorism against Team Rocket affected Pixel's parents. They overwhelmed her with exaggerated concerns, which caused her to become fed up with their dramatic emotions, thus growing a little detached from her own. Finally, she escaped from the suffocating household by joining Team Rocket. They offered her a place to live and she wanted to be independent as soon as possible. She signed up and had been living at the Viridian headquarters since then.

"How did you end up working at the mansion?" Delia encouraged the conversation to continue despite her own mixed emotions about the situation.

"I... failed at my old job," Pixel decided to leave it at that. As a student she was good, she took advanced tests and summer classes so she graduated early. When she got to Team Rocket, she was at the bottom. There were many people who were more skilled than her. It made her realize how little she could learn from the outside world. She did a lot of training, both physical and academic. She wasn't used to exercising so it wasn't easy. She got to class exhausted from the exercise and her brain was hardly functional in that state. 

She managed to hold her own for a while thanks to Prism, her Porygon. Team Rocket gave Porygon to all the members of the software department. She wanted to finish the classes quickly so she tried to take the final exams early. She was good at tests as a student, so she thought she would somehow pass. The tests were actually hacking exercises in a controlled environment. They weren't really hacking, just practicing within the training Rocket server. She had to pass the test without Prism, whom she relied on so far, and lacked the skills to do so. 

"Then you ended up here?" Delia guessed.

"Not right away," She had lost her confidence. In her current state Pixel was a super geek in comparison to a normal person, but even with all her knowledge she was at the bottom in comparison to the experienced tech Rockets. "I was drained from the busy schedule." She left her old life to have more freedom, but didn't have any time to herself. "I requested to be transferred..." to the hardware department, thinking that would be easier. The transfer was denied and she instead ended up as a supplier. The Porygon she had borrowed was taken away as soon as she left the software department. Basically, she was a delivery girl who took supplies to the field agents. Another Rocket supplier, Mondo, gave her some training.

"How did that job go?" Delia was aware that Pixel was only scratching the surface of the story, not wanting to reveal too much.

"I thought it was alright, but I guess it wasn't." She was late too many times due to being unused to traveling. Because of that, she was demoted to agent by commission. She didn't have a stable salary; she was paid depending on what pokemon she brought in. "I never had any pokemon of my own, so capturing pokemon was not possible, or rather, too difficult."

"You mean stealing?" There was a distinct difference between catching pokemon and stealing them. It was something Delia couldn't help it but to point out.

"I didn't even try that, I was worried I would get caught. Capturing wild pokemon is allowed, Team Rocket isn't just about stealing." Pixel left it at that, not wanting to mention too much about the business side of Team Rocket.

"I know," the thought brought bitter memories to Delia, "there are also scientists conducting experiments." Pixel didn't know the true meaning behind Delia's words.

After her demotion, Pixel had hit rock bottom. One night she was broke and didn't want to go back to headquarters. She knew they would ask her to pay for her room. They couldn't take it out of her paycheck because she hadn't earned anything that month. The room was cheap, but Pixel's account was at zero. She wandered around the streets of Pewter City and someone tried to rob her. 

The only things she had were her cell phone and computer, which she was allowed to keep after leaving the software department. The laptop was a glossy black with a red R on top. It was about four inches tall, six inches wide and only an inch thick. It was a lucky seven model. It had a seven gigahertz central processing unit, seven gigabytes of random access memory, a hard drive with seven terabytes of space, seven USB ports and a rocket port.

Pixel knew she couldn't allow some strange man to steal her equipment. She prepared for a fight she knew she couldn't win. Out of nowhere, a Meowth came and gave that masked man quite a beating. Pixel wanted to thank her, but the Meowth was unfriendly and Pixel ended up running away. Looking back on it, it was stupid to walk into an alley in Pewter City. She was used to the safety of Viridian City. Despite being surrounded by a thick forest and having plenty of dark alleys, only Rockets were allowed to challenge the law. There were severe punishments for non-Rockets that broke the law within the city's borders or in the forest. It was ironically a relatively safe place to live as long as Team Rocket remained unprovoked. 

Pixel made it to the Viridian park late into the night. She didn't want to go to the Pokemon Center since she was wearing her Rocket uniform, but she couldn't get any clothes from her room at headquarters. She sat under a tree and thought about sleeping there, then she saw that Meowth again. She followed Pixel and she wanted to pick a fight, which Pixel talked her out of. 

"I met a strong Meowth one night and tried to talk to her. Of course she only answered with 'meowth' and I didn't understand her, but I think she understood me. I wasn't experienced with pokemon, so I wasn't sure what to expect," Pixel admitted. "We somehow reached an understanding and she ended up as my pokemon, even if she preferred to stay out of her pokeball most of the time. She would battle for me for our mutual benefit. I would give her food shelter and find opponents for her to fight and I caught pokemon with her help." 

Pixel had returned to HQ that night after all. She borrowed some money from her friend Laiki to get by while she put her plan into action. She set out for Saffron City the next day. After getting to Saffron City everything fell into place. There was a group there that hosted secret pokemon battles where people made bets. They were not affiliated with Team Rocket, but they were not enemies. The battles were harsh, not something the official league would approve of. Purry, the Meowth, was eager to participate. 

"There's this wild Rattata that keeps getting away from me. I named him Speedy because he's so quick to run away. That was how I first ended up working at the mansion. A friend," Laiki, "told me that the mansion staff needed a trainer for something and I came. When I got to the mansion I was told that my mission was to defeat a Rattata that snuck in and they couldn't get rid of. Peachy ended up scaring him off. After that I ended up coming here to do different jobs now and then," Pixel explained.

"I didn't come here just to change a lightbulb," the blue haired girl continued, "that was something I was randomly asked to do. I was here for something else," to go over the security system and make sure the electronic locks and alarms were in working order, just in case. "So, who exactly are you and what is your position with the boss?" Pixel asked curiously.

"I'm no one famous, I have a little restaurant in Pallet Town, I'm usually always there." Delia paused unsure of how to phrase the next part, "I've known Giovanni for a long time... we used to date years ago."

"Really? So you're his ex who is or was getting back together with him?" Pixel knew Laiki would love to hear about something like that, but the Rocket gossip expert probably already knew. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash, Misty and Lily arrived at Vermilion City. The streets were flooded with police officers keeping a close eye on the people coming and going through the streets, even if not many people were out at the time. Lily had been trying over and over to call Daisy during the entire drive, but her cell phone remained off. She decided to check on Violet, whom she thought had gone to Viridian City. 

Violet answered her cell phone after just a few seconds, "Lily?"

"I'm like so glad you answered, I haven't been able to talk to Daisy yet," Lily spoke with worry. "How are things in Viridian City?"

"I don't know," Violet quietly admitted, "I like wanted to call sooner, don't be mad at me. I'm not in Viridian City; I'm in the Vermilion City hospital with Daisy. Mr. Ackbar passed away from his injuries; he was like shot during the donation ceremony. He was alive when he got to the hospital but he didn't make it..." Violet started crying again, Bane Ackbar's son, Lando, who was Daisy's fiance, had taken his father's death hard. He was thirsty for justice. He was upset, Daisy was upset and when Violet arrived, she cried with them more than she could comfort them.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lily screamed into her little pink cell phone with tears forming in her eyes, which alarmed Misty.

"What is it? What happened? What's wrong?" Misty urged, tempted to snatch away the cell phone if her sister didn't answer quickly.

"Violet is in the Vermilion City hospital, she like came to find Daisy instead of going to Viridian City!" Lily informed, with a mix of anger at being excluded, relief to know Daisy and Violet were alright and sadness for the loss. Every hint of color was drained from Misty's face, imagining that Violet was injured and Daisy was missing or hurt as well. "Violet is alright," Lily clarified, seeing Misty's face, "Daisy is like okay too, but Mr. Ackbar, Lando's father, passed away."

As Misty and Ash took everything in, Lily listened to Violet on the phone, "Lando got hurt, but he's not in danger. He like took a bullet on the shoulder protecting Daisy, but the doctors say he should be able to fully recover in time." Violet's explanation was hurried and mixed with sobs.

"We're here," Ash hastily announced as he found a parking space at the Vermilion City hospital. The building stood tall, painted plain white, with many glass windows on each floor. Ash was on edge with everything that was going on, the recent update which revealed a death, only made him feel worse. 

"Violet, we're like going into the hospital right now," Lily told her sister on the phone, "yes, we're here, what room are you in?" There was a short pause, "okay," then Lily hung up. "Violet says she'll come get us, they're like not allowing anyone in Lando's room without his permission, he doesn't want to deal with the press right now."

They quietly hurried across the hospital's large waiting room. The tiles and walls were white, matching the rows of chairs. "Excuse me, you can't bring pokemon in here, this is a human hospital, put it in a pokeball."

Pikachu protested and glared at the nurse. Before Ash could say anything, Violet called out to them, "Lily, Misty, Ash!"

"Violet!" Lily dashed towards her sister and hugged her, as if they haven't seen each other in years. Violet returned the emotion. 

"You are friends of the Ackbar family?" The nurse inquired, not really needing an answer. "I'm sorry, please go on."

The group hurried to the elevator and Violet led Lily, Misty and Ash to Lando's room. In his room, Lando was going on endlessly about how much he hated Team Rocket. He was light headed from the pain killers and his speech was blurry.

"Daisy!" Lily shared a similar emotional reunion with her oldest sister as she had with Violet, hugging her. The three women stood together hugging each other until Misty joined in as well.

"What happened?" Misty took note of the white band around Daisy's head. There was a little white pillow attached to it on the back.

Daisy touched the little pillow that made contact with the back of her head, "it's like an ice-pack." Her eyes were red from crying and her voice was still shaky. "When Lando jumped in front of me and pushed me down I like hit my head on the floor, but if he hadn't done that..." Daisy became silent; she had never been so close in her life to having a bullet go through her head.

Misty watched as Lando lay in bed rambling about what he would do to get back at Team Rocket. "Thank you for protecting Daisy," Misty felt her own tears start to come out and felt Ash put his arm around her shoulders and pull her close. Pikachu, who was on his back, patted Misty's head gently.

Lando's half-conscious speech continued until he finally declared, "I can't get vengeance on an empty stomach, but I'm supposed to stay here for a while longer. Oh father, rest in peace I will avenge you! Where's my cell phone, I'm calling that restaurant we like and ordering something." His violet eyes remained unfocused and his pale platinum hair was a bit messy.

"They deliver?" Daisy finally let go of Violet and Lily, she kept her arms around her sisters' shoulders even after their group hug had ended.

"They do not, but I'll have someone pick up the food," Lando resolved. "That," he pointed at the clear bag beside the bed, feeding nutrients into his veins, "is not food," his speech was slurred due to the leftover anesthesia from when the bullet was removed from his shoulder and the pain killers in his system. He was still surprisingly talkative, even if most of his speech consisted of repetition and gibberish. His drunken tone was a big contrast to his normally polite and educated clear speech.

"Maybe you should ask the doctors first," Misty suggested.

"What are you saying? If we leave it up to the doctors they'll like starve my poor darling!" Daisy cried, still in a highly emotional state. "This man saved my life today and he will get to eat whatever he wants," she looked at Ash, "and you will bring it."

"Me?" Ash paused and decided not to protest, "alright, just tell me where to go."

Misty sighed hopelessly, it's not like food could do much harm anyway. Lando was already on the phone with his favorite restaurant, telling them to have his order ready. "I thank you for volunteering," he had overheard that Ash would be the delivery boy, "the restaurant is called Squisito, it's on the east of the city, near the coast, you can't miss it. When Team Rocket is destroyed, I'm taking everyone out to dinner there. Let's all eat together here for now, what should I order for you?" He made several suggestions in a different language, none of which Ash understood.

"Whichever tastes the best," Ash replied unsure.

"Great choice, I am having that as well!" Lando laughed for no reason other than his pain killer high and spoke on the phone again in that foreign language. He paused to tell Ash, "you should be on your way; they will have things ready when you get there."

"Right," Ash nodded awkwardly and glanced at Misty before exiting the immaculate white room, heading for the elevator.

xoxox xox xoxox

After going down ten floors and across the large waiting room, Ash exited the Vermilion hospital. He was followed by a reporter and her cameraman. They were in the waiting room hoping to have a word with Lando as soon as the heir to Ackbar Inc. tried to leave. Though they insisted, the hospital staff wouldn't let them visit his room. 

"Wait! You're Ash aren't you? The young reporter, Allana, had platinum hair and golden eyes like her father, though her facial features were identical to her mother, Ameda. "A good news reporter has to stay informed. Since it looks like Mr. Ackbar isn't coming out, the Viridian mayor and gym leader's alleged support of Team Rocket is just as much news as anything. Will you comment? I mean, you did win the tournament, but you didn't battle the gym leader, is there a reason for that?" 

Normally, Allana wasn't so well informed, but the Viridian tournament had been set to be recorded and the rights to broadcast it had been purchased by the station where she and her parents worked. The arrangements were made before the tournament even took place. Allana was participating in the final edit of the program, narrating the events of the tournament and providing comments to go with the images. She still hadn't done that, but she received a basic summary of how things went and saw a few video clips. 

Ash looked at the reporter suspiciously, "what do you mean by that?" He pouted and snatched away the microphone. Allana excitedly signaled for the man with the camera to start filming. Ash looked at the camera and took a deep breath, "everyone, I Ash Ketchum, Indigo League Champion, hereby assure that the Viridian City gym leader, Giovanni, is not with Team Rocket. Stop throwing false accusations! Oh and don't pick on the mayor either." Ash handed the microphone back to the reporter and went on his way, "I have food to deliver, so I have to go now."

Allana didn't follow Ash, his declaration was plenty of material to work with, "thanks!" Grinning from ear to ear, she took her little golden cell phone from the pocket of her loud magenta suit. "Daddy, I have news!" She squealed into the phone. 

Her father, the producer for the station's news programs encouraged her to continue, "what is it sweetie? Did you interview the young Mr. Ackbar?"

"No, he's still up in his hospital room and won't come out. I spoke to Ash Ketchum, he won the Indigo League championship two years ago and won against last year's champion at the Viridian City tournament," Allana's voice continued rising in pitch as she went on, "he says people should stop accusing the gym leader and the mayor!" 

The news wasn't particularly shocking or controversial; a lot of people still had faith in the gym leader. Nonetheless, Giovanni's alleged involvement with Team Rocket was becoming big news and if it was proven to be true, the drama would extend to Ash thanks to his statement. If that happened, that report could be gold. "Let's prepare the report for the airwaves immediately!" The producer decided.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 49: Give me Intelligence

Ash drove through the nearly empty streets of Vermilion City, bordering the coast. "Pika!" Pikachu pointed at an elegant structure that looked like a miniature palace painted in shades of blue. It had an ocean theme to it with seashells embedded into the walls, the paint created the illusion of an underwater castle. A large sign held by a mermaid statue read 'Squisito' in golden letters. 

The mermaid had a blue-green fish tail with a yellow star on the hip. She was wearing a pink seashell bra and a pearl necklace, earrings and hair clips. Her face was partially covered by her red hair. She reminded Ash of Misty.

"Good job Pikachu, it looks like this is the place, I should have guessed it would be fancy," Ash's little indigo car looked out of place among the few luxurious cars in the nearly empty parking lot. He exited the car with Pikachu on his shoulders and entered the restaurant through the front door.

There was a large tank on the right with a few small water pokemon swimming inside, mostly Goldeen, Seaking and Magikarp. The left side was lined with several smaller tanks holding Krabby, Kingler, Shellder and Cloyster. On the wall facing towards the street there were various paintings depicting water pokemon. The opposite wall was made of glass, showing a clear view of the beach. 

"Sir," a man dressed in a formal suit with his royal blue hair impeccably brushed back, addressed Ash. The man stood behind a polished brown wood podium at the entrance of the restaurant. On the podium there was a list on white paper lined with gold, a gold plated pen and a little golden bell. "This is a formal restaurant; you can't come in dressed like that. As for your Pikachu, please make sure he at least wears a bow tie."

"Um... I'm here to pick up a delivery?" Ash finally noticed the critical look directed at him. "It's for Lando Ackbar."

Upon mentioning the name, the man's face changed from disapproving to forcefully cheerful, "ah yes, you must be Mr. Ash Ketchum, correct?" The man picked up the little bell and rung it. A lavender haired waitress, dressed formally, rushed over, "Mr. Ash Ketchum is here to pick up the delivery Mr. Lando Ackbar ordered. Please inform the chef."

"Yes, right away!" The slightly nervous waitress hurried off to the kitchen, entering a small door between two tanks containing a Shellder and a Krabby. 

Before the waitress with long lavender hair returned, several people in similar attires recalled the pokemon in the tanks into pokeballs and let other pokemon into the tanks. They were also water types, but some were from different regions. They headed out to the beach and let the pokemon that had previously been in the tanks out to play there, as if to keep the atmosphere interesting by occasionally switching the pokemon in the tanks.

The waitress finally returned, carrying four bags. The bags were made of heat enclosing fabric in four different shades of blue with golden lining. The name Squisito was written in golden letters on each of them. "Here is the food, please let Mr. Ackbar know that we hope he enjoys it!"

"I will, thanks," Ash took the bags and soon after, the waitress returned to her job. It looked like Lando had told them to put it on his tab. The waitress seemed a little less nervous when Ash finally started to leave. 

Ash noticed the waitress whispering something to the man at the podium, but didn't hear them clearly. He thought he heard the phrases "the other business" and "even the champion," spoken with disapproval and a hint of fear. Ash didn't know what that was about, but assumed it was unimportant and disregarded it as if he had not heard.

Ash returned to his car with the bags, placing them on the passenger seat next to Pikachu, "hold on to them." 

Pikachu nodded, "pika." He hoped that Lando remembered to order something for him.

Ash tried to start his car but it didn't work. "Gotta change that battery," he remembered, "Pikachu, it looks like the battery needs another charge." Pikachu followed Ash out of the car. Ash opened it exposing the engine and hoped his battery wouldn't be fried completely after another of Pikachu's charges, "be gentle."

"Pikachu!" Pikachu aimed a relatively small amount of electricity at the battery, and kept it going for a few seconds.

"Alright, let's try again," Ash closed the lid on top of the engine and went back inside the car. Thankfully, the car started immediately after the battery was charged, "good, it worked!" He knew he couldn't keep on doing that forever, eventually, the battery would give out. He still kept procrastinating to change it though. The battery was in a more or less sufficiently working condition for the time being.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash made it back to the Vermilion City hospital uneventfully and took the food up to Lando's room. A nurse had tried to stop him, but her sentence was cut off by another, who pointed out he was with Mr. Ackbar's friends. As soon as she heard, the first nurse quickly excused herself.

Ash moved the bag's handles from his hand to forearm and reached for the door, opening it without knocking, he didn't think too much of the action. The room had changed since Ash was last there and for a moment he thought he was in the wrong place. Yet the Waterflower sisters were all there crowded around Lando, so that had to be the right room. They were listening to his endless speech, which sounded a little more coherent with each passing minute.

Ash set the bags quietly on the white table in a corner of the room, next to a glass vase holding a dozen red roses. The room was filled with various gifts, flowers, pokemon plush toys, fruit baskets, cards, letters and wrapped boxes. They must have been held back by security and just recently brought up to the room after passing inspection. "I'm back," Ash announced.

"Ash!" Daisy squealed at the top of her lungs, with similar reactions following from Violet and Lily, "Ash!" "Ash!" 

The three women crowded around Ash, pulling him into a suffocating group hug that threatened to choke him to death. Fortunately, Misty interfered, "give him some breathing room!"

When Daisy, Violet and Lily finally let him go, Ash took a deep breath. He began to recover the normal color of his face, instead of being slightly blue from the lack of oxygen. "Wow, you must really be hungry."

"Oh you silly baby brother," Daisy pinched his cheek, catching Ash off guard.

"It's not about the food," Violet took Ash's hat off and ruffled his already messy hair. She passed the hat to Lily.

"It's about Misty and you," Lily put Ash's hat back on his head, pulling it down over his face.

Ash adjusted his hat and blinked in confusion, "Misty and me? But you already knew about us."

While her sisters giggled, Misty clarified, "Lily noticed the ring and brought it to everyone's attention. They wouldn't stop asking about it so I had to tell them. Sorry I couldn't get them to wait until you came back."

"It's okay," Ash smiled, "Does this mean you'll tease me as your little brother from now on?" The three oldest Waterflower sisters nodded in unison. "I guess I can live with that," Ash laughed.

"Splendid!" Lando suddenly cheered, "then we shall raise our swords to combat the evil Team Rocket as brothers in arms!"

Daisy sighed, her previous gloomy mood surfacing, "just when I thought the pain killers were like clearing out."

"Yeah!" Ash couldn't forgive Team Rocket this time.

"Don't encourage crazy things!" Daisy elbowed Ash. Hopefully, when the pain killers dissolved from his system, Lando would be a little more rational and let the police handle things.

xoxox xox xoxox

The tension was heavy in the Viridian Rocket base. Laiki was feeling terribly frustrated, more so than ever before. She was not only a nurse, but also an information gatherer and Team Rocket's enemies had been hiding under her nose for far too long. She let out an exasperated breath as she sat on her desk at the Viridian gym's secret underground structure. The pokemon in the medical facility watched her. They were unable to turn their eyes away from the human that irradiated tension and stress.

She looked over the list of the people who had been identified as traitors. The boss was very displeased with the situation and its unpredictability. The list held several names that Laiki would have never guessed would be traitors. They were effective and hard working, they were not recruited after the disbandment of rival gangs and they had lost nothing to Team Rocket. Every aspect of their past life was free of any reason to hold a grudge. It didn't make any sense, why would seemingly loyal Rockets suddenly turn into traitors?

The clues were leading Laiki in circles. She thought that it was an outside job with a few infiltrators involved, but it was looking more like an inside job by the second. The involvement of an outside group in the situation was very likely, but they were not the only ones. If that was the case, who would want to rebel and why?

Those were not the only worries in Laiki's mind. Akira had disappeared shortly after the attack at Vermilion City went public. Laiki feared that she would do something crazy on her own. She hoped that Akira was aware that those who attacked were not real Rockets, but rather traitors acting without Giovanni's consent.

Laiki hoped that Akira didn't try to get vengeance on her own and make things worse. Being a famous singer, Akira was well known, as was her link to Team Rocket. It served to enhance her rebellious image and help her sell more songs. If she took action, then the link between the attack and the real Team Rocket, albeit a lie, would be undeniable. Akira was known to be a Rocket and labeling someone so famous as a traitor wouldn't be enough to convince the police or the underworld. 

They might assume Team Rocket really was senselessly causing trouble. They would theorize that a violent direct take over was on its way, instead of the slow and steady take over that was the truth. With Akira's added attention from the media, Team Rocket's business associates would surely be driven to the edge. They would start seriously doubting the Rockets' trust, putting a strain on business. 

Worse yet, they might assume Giovanni simply couldn't control Team Rocket. Laiki wondered if that would make the boss throw the slow and steady take over plan out the window and blow up all of Kanto in a fit of rage. "Arg!" She felt like banging her head on her desk. She knew about a portion of Akira's secret past, though some details were lost in time. 

She knew that Akira had grown up in that orphanage at Vermilion City until the age of fourteen. For reasons unknown to Laiki, she was not adopted, despite being a healthy, cute little girl, with a melodious voice. Maybe someone prevented her adoption for some reason. Akira was later adopted by a man who became her agent. Evidently, he only wanted to make money off her talent. She ultimately ran away and joined Team Rocket, though she still continued her music career.

Mirta, the woman who was in charge of the orphanage, was killed during the attack. Naturally, Akira would be thirsty for revenge. Mirta had taken care of her since she was a baby. At least the reason why the attack took place in that specific event made sense. They must have gathered information about Akira and decided to use her fame against Team Rocket to get more media coverage. Plus Ackbar Inc. was an important business partner. It was like catching two Pidgey, with one pokeball, though that was only a saying. The enemy must be expecting Akira to do something. They might keep pushing her if she didn't; she had to be found. 

Laiki eyed her little cell phone warily, she didn't know how safe it was, but this was urgent. She couldn't contact the boss and assumed he must have gone out to face the restless media once again. She instead called Comet and left a short message, "bring back Akira," and hung up quickly. There was a possibility that Comet might not receive the message at all, but Laiki had no other way to contact him.

Many questions still remained. Laiki theorized that maybe someone within Team Rocket wanted to overthrow the boss, but she didn't know who. It tortured her that she couldn't figure it out. She felt wrong not knowing what was going on around her. She was used to knowing even what was not her business.

She refreshed the screen of her laptop computer and looked at the Kanto News' official website. There was something new there. It was a report concerning comments made by Ash Ketchum, the Indigo League champion of two years ago. Wait, Ketchum? That was Delia's lastname. Someone as nosy as Laiki would care to learn such a detail. In contrast, Comet would settle for hearing exciting stories were everyone only had a first name and no history beyond what was contained in the tale.

She took note of the many comments posted on the page before she even viewed the video. She had many theories swimming in her head. There was something odd about the comments on the page that Laiki's critical eyes noticed right away. Too many people were demanding a press conference to be given by the gym leader. The commenter names were different, but they came from the same place. Thanks to Team Rocket's custom browser, codenamed Ninetails, she could easily track the IP address of each comment. Even if she wasn't a computer expert, it only took a few clicks. The IP address of each comment was the same and Laiki knew she was on to something. She quickly played the video.

Ash was defending Giovanni. He was not from Team Rocket, but the traitors did have allies outside. Plus this matched the strategy Laiki had theorized about, using famous people to give the situation more attention. Many people were looking forward to seeing Ash and Ritchie battle and that was exactly what happened recently. Their fame had increased lately. "A trap," Laiki concluded. Someone was trying to take out the boss and establish control over Team Rocket. It was someone ruthless enough to cause a big commotion. By that line of thought they would want to get rid of Giovanni in public and a press conference would be the perfect chance. Ash's comments should motivate people to ease up on the accusations against the Viridian gym leader, but only a few comments were in Giovanni's favor. Their IP was different.

Laiki knew that the boss suspected Ash. He told her about it while giving her a quick disapproving scolding for being unable to locate the traitors before the chaos exploded. This proved that the boss was correct; Ash was with the enemy. Delia, a relative of Ash, though Laiki didn't know what their relation was, had to be a spy. She had to tell the boss right away, or at least, as soon as the press released him. She had a feeling that he would be able to see something else in those clues that eluded her.

xoxox xox xoxox

At Giovanni's mansion, Pixel sat in the guest room with Delia. The Rocket was researching the recent events on her little computer with Delia watching the screen. She came across the video of Ash defending Giovanni and noticed that Delia paled. "You know him? I mean other than as a famous pokemon trainer."

Delia remained silent for a moment before replying, "I don't know him personally."

Pixel didn't believe her and her doubts increased when she further researched Ash Ketchum. She found that he was from Pallet Town. There was a world of information online, but people wouldn't find anything among the spam unless they knew how to search. "You do know him; he's from Pallet Town too." Pixel had never been to Pallet Town, she only knew where it was located on a map. She didn't know it was the kind of little town where everyone knew everyone, yet she still found Delia's denial suspicious.

Delia shook her head and remained silent. Pixel took on a thoughtful expression. She felt as if she stumbled upon something important. Before she could say anything else, the door to the guest room was opened. A woman with a tray of food entered, "Pixel? I thought you left." She placed the tray of food on the desk.

"I didn't want to open the door without permission," Pixel admitted, she did have a keycard hidden. Delia looked towards the door, but found two men guarding it. She knew she wouldn't be able to get past them so she didn't even try. 

"Well," the cook continued, she was short and had pale orange hair, with a few white strands. She looked very similar to her sister, who worked as a Rocket scout. "You can leave now, unless you want to stay and keep our guest company." Delia frowned; she wasn't a guest, she was being held there against her will.

"I think I'll give her some space," Pixel headed for the door with her little computer on hand. She slipped out past the two men. Delia knew the girl's curiosity was awakened and that she would research Ash.

xoxox xox xoxox

Pixel sat in one of the large luxurious living rooms of Giovanni's mansion. The theme of this particular room was gold. Several paintings hung on the walls in golden frames, filled with similar shades. A Sandshrew looked towards the sky, with glowing skin. The sunlight was too strong and golden to be realistic. Yet the painting had a certain charm to it. Somehow it didn't look blindingly bright. Despite the background consisting of golden sand, the pokemon still stood out.

Another painting showed a group of Pikachu surrounded by an autumn scenery. They were playing in a pile of golden leaves, their golden fur perfectly glossy. In a similar autumn environment, another painting depicted a group of Kakuna and Beedrill. The most stunning painting in the room was definitely Zapdos. It was much larger than the others, taking up practically an entire wall. The legendary pokemon of lightning had his wings spread far left and right. Electricity surrounded him as if it would fly out of the painting. 

The couch was covered in a detailed golden fabric. It was shiny, but somehow not too bright. It all contrasted perfectly with the dark neutral colors of the walls and carpet. Pixel focused on her research and came across a picture of Ash. He was in some kind of formal event sponsored by Ackbar Inc. He held a Pikachu wearing a tuxedo top. Next to Ash there was a red haired woman in a dress, her arm linked with his. Pixel looked further into it. Many connections lay hidden just below the surface. They were waiting to be discovered if only someone would search for them. 

She found out that the red haired woman was Misty Waterflower, of the Cerulean City gym. That information didn't hold any leads to uncovering whatever mystery was out there. She researched Delia, but found little about her. Delia had been careful, claiming to be camera shy after Ash became better known. She wasn't the only Ketchum in Kanto, so the champion didn't need to automatically be linked to her unless there were other elements that led to that connection.

She paused and looked at the picture one more time. There was a certain familiarity about the photo. Pixel felt as if she had seen Ash before, but not in the Indigo League or the recent tournament. Maybe he reminded her of someone, but she didn't know who. She knew she wasn't supposed to be calling anyone, but this could be important so she took the risk and called Laiki.

"Pixel? What is it? Did something happen?" Laiki asked hurriedly.

"No, sorry to call like this, is the line safe?" Pixel inquired unsure.

"I don't know; you know a lot more about these things than me!" Laiki was still missing vital pieces to the ever growing puzzle. She wanted to find them as soon as possible. She needed to tell Giovanni what she came up with, but he was still busy with the press. 

"Just do an image search for Ash Ackbar," Pixel left it at that, Laiki would surely find that same picture.

"Got it, I have to go," Laiki was unaware that Delia was at Giovanni's mansion with Pixel. If she knew, she would have urgently asked her friend to get information from her. 

Regardless, getting information from Delia was exactly what Pixel intended to do. If she just asked a few key questions, Delia might tell her something. She got the feeling Delia was not a bad person. Maybe if Pixel could talk her into believing it was for the best, she would reveal the truth.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Viridian Rocket base, Laiki did an image search for Ash Ackbar. That was not the lastname of the champion, so Laiki wondered what this was about. When the picture of Ackbar Inc.'s formal party appeared on the screen, Laiki knew she found what Pixel wanted her to find. She remembered the picture Binks had shown her long ago, the copy of the same picture Luke had shown Comet. 

She imagined the two images overlapping, the first semi-transparent over the second. When Ash didn't have his hat and had his hair so perfectly brushed back, he looked like a younger Giovanni. Was it a coincidence or something more? Even if the line might not be safe, Laiki had to discuss this further.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia didn't waste any time as soon as she was left alone in the guest room. She threw the pillows on the floor and pulled the sheets off the large bed, immediately getting to work on tying them together. She tugged strongly on the ends to make sure they would support her and tied them to the handle of the window. She threw her improvised rope down, after checking to make sure there was no one watching. Thankfully, the people who were outside earlier had finished their tasks and were gone.

Reminding herself not to look down, Delia exited the room through the window. She held on to the sheets with one hand and to the windowsill with the other. The glass opened towards the inside and the sheets tied to the window's handle would close it with the weight. It was inevitable, Delia couldn't think of another place to safely tie the sheets. Of course, she wanted to escape as noiselessly as possible. Holding on to the windowsill she pulled the glass closed with the sheet. After giving it one final tug for reassurance, she started to climb down.

She went as fast as she could, hoping no one went out or looked out one of the windows near her path. Finally, Delia reached the end of the sheets and hopped down safely to the ground. She didn't even take a moment to catch her breath before she started to run as fast as she could towards the tall gates. With some difficulty, she managed to climb over them, though she ripped her dress a little and had a painful fall. Fortunately, nothing was sprained or broken. She made it to the other side of the fence without any major injuries. It was ironic and she mentally scolded herself for it: her destination was the Viridian Gym.

xoxox xox xoxox

Pixel returned to the guest room where Delia was being held captive. She had asked the butler to stand guard at the door just in case. She opened the door and immediately noticed something was very wrong. The pillows were on the floor and the sheets were missing. "Oh no!" She rushed to the window, the only possible escape route. She pulled it open and found the sheets tied together, leading down from the window, "she's gone!"

"What?" The butler rushed into the room, "I can't believe this, the boss is going to be so angry at us!"

"You mean at you!" Pixel argued, "it was the mansion's staff's job to keep her here, not mine!"

"Weren't you the one checking to make sure the alarms were working properly?" The butler countered.

"And they are," Pixel retorted, "the alarms go off when someone breaks in, not when someone breaks out!" She pushed past him out of the room, "I have no time for this. Even if it's not my fault, I'm going to find her."

Pixel ran out of the mansion and spotted something shiny on the ground below the escape route. She picked it up and realized it was a diamond earring. "Delia must have dropped this." She threw out a pokeball with a lightning bolt sticker on it.

"Pikachu," a female Pikachu emerged from the red beam of the pokeball. She had a blue bow on her left ear and long fur atop her head.

"Peachy, track down the owner of this earring!" Pixel held out the earring for Peachy to get its scent. She wasn't really a pokemon expert since she didn't grow up among them.

"Pika!" After sniffing the earring, Peachy took a deep breath, examining the scents in the air. She dashed around the mansion towards a window on its side.

"Why would Delia go this way?" Pixel wondered as she followed her pokemon.

Peachy went inside through the open window leading to the kitchen. The cook saw her come in. "Hello there Peachy, have you come for a snack?"

"Peachy!" Pixel called after her Pikachu, "this is no time to be a glutton, the boss' guest slash prisoner has escaped!"

The cook gasped, "she's gone?" As the cook stared at Pixel in shock, Peachy dashed towards a pie that was set to cool on the counter. She picked up a near by fork and began to devour it. She ate a lot and did it fast, but somehow she was neat.

"Yes and we're going to find her, Peachy return!" Pixel called back her Pikachu, leaving a half eaten pie where she was. Perhaps not all pokemon were experts on tracking scents, though Peachy was certainly good at finding food. 

Pixel ran towards the front gates of the mansion, which were still closed. A shred of fabric was caught on one of the points that the fence's bars culminated in. It was the same color as Delia's dress. She hurried to unlock the gates and ran out. Maybe Delia had gone back to Pallet Town. Pixel's cell phone rang and she answered it while running, briefly glancing at the caller ID. "Sorry Laiki, I can't talk now, I'm chasing someone!" 

"Oh, sorry, sorry, focus on that!" Laiki quickly hung up. Sometimes the truth is staring at you, but you don't see it until it shouts at your face.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 50: Give me Bravery

Laiki heard voices from the tunnels just outside of the medical area. She rushed out to see that Giovanni was walking down the long underground hallway of the Viridian headquarters, talking to another Rocket. It took the press long enough to let him go, "boss!" She hurried to tell him what she had found so far.

"Has Akira been found yet?" Giovanni immediately inquired, it was part of Laiki's job to be informed. She had a natural talent for it, so it might as well be put to use.

"Not yet," Laiki replied, surprised at the question. 'How does he know about that? I haven't explained my theory yet,' she thought.

"We don't need anymore publicity so she better keep a low profile. Track down Ash's location. He has something to do with this; the reporters mentioned what he said. He must be trying to play innocent. It has to be a trap, someone is pushing for a press conference and it's too suspicious," Giovanni theorized.

Laiki stood with her mouth open, unable to find something to say that the boss didn't already know. "Ketchum," she finally came up with something. She was feeling frustrated that it had taken her hours of analyzing information and going around in mental circles before she could come up with a solid theory. It wasn't fair that the boss had figured out that much while dealing with a million other things at the same time. At least she could point out one new detail and hope it was enough until she could make up for her past shortcomings.

"Delia? Yes, I need to interrogate her; I'm going to do that now. Inform me immediately if you find something, and you better find new information soon," Giovanni warned with a stern tone and continued on his way.

"No, I mean yes," Laiki rushed after him, "what I'm trying to say is that Ketchum is Ash's last name, the same as Delia." Laiki didn't know how much meaning that piece of information could have. She wasn't going to risk making Giovanni angrier by revealing that she had seen a picture were Ash looked like him. She left out that detail, even if she couldn't look at Giovanni anymore without thinking of the similarities.

Giovanni paused as if the fact put things in a whole new perspective. Delia wasn't the only Ketchum in Kanto thus in any other situation the detail could be ignored. Yet the timing suggested that this wasn't a coincidence. If Ash was Delia's relative and was anything like Delia, he wouldn't approve of the Vermilion attack. On the other hand, if he was the culprit, the fact that they were related might make Delia less likely to stand against him and more likely to believe in his act of innocence. 

Giovanni didn't know how they were related, but it didn't matter. That wasn't the point, though the detail bothered him. It was as if he had subconsciously realized something that he was still consciously unaware of. He decided not to waste time trying to guess what was going on. He intended to go straight to his only available source of information, Delia. "Continue researching Ash and the traitors, find out everything."

"Yes, boss!" Laiki hurried back into the medical facilities and to her desk. She would continue examining the data and trying to find new information.

xoxox xox xoxox

On the road near Giovanni's mansion, a seemingly normal dark green car drove by next to Delia. The car accelerated and made a sharp turn in front of her. It came to a screeching halt blocking her path. A tall man stepped out of the car. He had short dark wine colored hair and cold gray eyes. He was wearing a Team Rocket uniform. Inside the car at the driver's seat, there was a woman with shoulder length pink hair and lavender eyes. She was also wearing a Team Rocket uniform, both in the classic black style with red lined white gloves and boots and black hats.

"Have you come to take me to Giovanni?" Delia glared at the man standing before her, showing no fear.

The man grinned maliciously, "yes, so please don't oppose any resistance. The boss is waiting for you."

"Fine," Delia didn't resist, "I was going to see him anyway," she got into the back of the car and the man went in sitting next to her.

The pink haired woman began to drive again. The atmosphere felt odd, as if it was distinctly wicked. Delia looked out the window of the car and wondered if she had made a grave mistake. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Giovanni made his way through the streets of Viridian City, heading back to the mansion. The dark green car that took Delia away had already left the area when Giovanni drove by. Pixel stayed away from the roads, assuming Delia had taken the most hidden path. As a result Giovanni didn't see the Rocket girl searching for Delia. 

He arrived at the mansion and spotted a suspicious shred of fabric still stuck to the top of the fence's bars. He knew right away that something was amiss, especially when he caught sight of the open window to the room where Delia had been. There were no tell-tale sheets anywhere to be seen, but the scene was suspicious enough. Giovanni hurried to get out of the car and rushed into the mansion where someone was about to get an earful.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Delia watched as the scenery outside the car changed, they passed the Viridian Gym and left Viridian City. The Rockets, which Delia suspected to be false, kept going towards Pewter City. She still hoped that they were real Rockets and that Giovanni was simply not at Viridian.

Seeing her discomfort, the tall man on the seat next to her spoke, "the boss has left Viridian, for safety reasons," he assured, though he didn't sound sincere.

"I see," Delia tried to hide her discomfort, getting into the car had been a bad idea, but what could she had done? If she didn't willingly go with them, they would have taken her by force. At least this way she still had the element of surprise in her favor. They might not expect her to try to escape. She would wait until she saw an opportunity to make a run for it.

The dark green car stopped at a traffic light. Its windows were tinted and the cars next to it didn't see the black uniforms with red Rs of two of its three occupants. The streets were not particularly crowded, but there were enough people around. Delia observed the tall man from the corner of her eyes. He was watching her, his arms tense as if waiting to grab her if she tried to run away.

The red traffic light would only last a few seconds so Delia had to act fast. She unlocked the door and pushed it open, but the man grabbed her arm, "you're not going anywhere!"

Delia screamed at the top of her lungs, which caught the attention of the passer-bys. The woman driving the car stomped on the gas pedal and made a hasty get away. The force of the sudden motion threw Delia and the man back. She took the opportunity to slip away just enough to reach out and grab a handful of the woman's pink hair. She pulled it with all her might.

The woman screamed and lost control of the car. It slid into the sidewalk as panicked people jumped out of the way. The car crashed into a store front, Delia recognized the store. It was the same one that did business with Team Rocket in the past. It was the store where she had gone to find Leah before they went to a cafe, where Leah told Delia about her hopes of finding Han alive. 

The impact of the car crash made Delia fall to the floor on the back of the car. She was at a perfect angle to kick the man's face and scramble out. She hoped that the store was still in good terms with the real Team Rocket.

The echo of a gunshot was heard and Delia realized her kidnappers were armed. She had been lucky to have the opportunity to trick them into lowering their guard by pretending she believed they were taking her to Giovanni.

Instead of stopping to get help from the people in the store, Delia ran away across the street. Cars screeched as they stopped in her path. The angry man's bullets missed her by a hair. "Idiot, stop shooting, we need her alive!" The pink haired woman yelled, chasing after Delia along with the wine haired man. The furious man didn't stop shooting until his gun ran out of bullets. Catching Delia wasn't made any easier by the fact that she ran across the street from one side to another. The cars kept getting in the way of her pursuers as they came to narrow stops before hitting them.

"Stop right there!" Jenny's voice resonated above the panicked screams of the people of Pewter City. She chased after the group, speeding in her motorcycle. When she was close enough, she sent out her loyal Arcanine. That man had opened fire on a street full of innocent people in broad daylight, so she felt she had the right to be a little rougher than she usually would be. "Arcanine, flame thrower on the man in the Team Rocket uniform!"

The pokemon obeyed, sending a well aimed blast of fire to collide with the tall man. He yelled in pain and dropped rolling on the street, trying to put out the flames. Jenny caught up to him and handcuffed him before he could recover from his pained daze. Back up soon arrived as well.

"Captain Jenny!" A younger office ran towards her. He and his partner had just arrived on the scene in a police car.

"Take this man to the station," she addressed the rookies. "As for the rest of you," there were two other police cars and another motorcycle, "don't let the others get away! Arrest the woman in the Team Rocket uniform and bring the other woman to the station for questioning." The officers, led by Jenny continued the pursuit.

Delia looked back to see that she was no longer being chased. After the man was caught by Jenny and her Arcanine, the pink haired woman gave up on chasing her. The false Rocket instead focused on trying to escape from the police. Delia saw Brock's pokemon breeding center ahead and dashed towards it.

xoxox xox xoxox 

While the chase was occurring in Pewter City, Pixel arrived at Pallet Town. She was exhausted from all the running. "I have to find her," she paused after every step to take in big breaths. She walked slowly into the town, wondering how to go about her search. 

Not too far from where Pixel stood, there was a little grocery store. It was the only one in Pallet Town. A young man with brown hair and a white lab coat exited the shop carrying two white plastic grocery bags. The generic bags had the words 'thank you' written in blue. He saw the girl in the black uniform with the red R and recognized her as a member of Team Rocket. "Are you here to steal the pokemon from the research lab?" He accused.

"No," Pixel tried to sound natural, "I'm just visiting a friend. Do you happen to know where Delia lives?"

"I don't think she would ever be friends with anyone from Team Rocket," Gary Oak, former pokemon trainer turned pokemon researcher glared suspiciously. He really wished he hadn't left all his pokemon back at the lab while he went to get some groceries.

Pixel didn't like where this was going, she was supposed to be keeping a low profile. "Oh well, I'll just come back another day," she began to run away.

"Come back here, I'm turning you in to the police!" Gary dropped his grocery bags and chased after her.

Pixel was not a very fast runner, plus she was tired. She knew she would be caught easily. Instead of uselessly continuing her efforts to run away, she turned to face her opponent and sent out her Charmander, "go Pyro, ember!" She wanted to make the man stop chasing her, not seriously hurt him.

Pyro obeyed, having no complaints about attacking another male, be it human or pokemon. He would have his doubts if it were a pretty girl. 

Gary's lab coat caught on fire, but he was quick to take it off and stomp out the flames. The distraction was enough for the girl to run away along with her Charmander.

"If you chase me I'll have to hurt you, just leave me alone!" Pixel yelled as she breathlessly dashed away.

Gary knew he wouldn't be able to take on her pokemon, without pokemon of his own. Instead of uselessly chasing after the Rocket girl, he ran back to the lab to get his pokeballs. He would track her down from the air on one of his flying pokemon and capture her for the police. He wouldn't allow anything like what happened in Vermilion City to be repeated in Pallet Town.

xoxox xox xoxox

At Pewter City, Brock sat in front of the TV watching Akira sing and dance. He had been busy taking care of the pokemon at first and later went inside to watch the music channel. He occasionally changed the channel to a random sitcom when a video came on that didn't interest him. He would check back after a couple of minutes to see if the next music video featured a pretty girl. He was blissfully unaware of the events that took place on the other side of Kanto. Suddenly, he heard a panicked voice calling his name at the door that led to his living area.

Brock rushed to open the door and found Ash's mother. Her breathing was heavy and fast, her face was red from all the running and her dress was torn. She had shallow cuts and darkening bruises all over her body and she looked like she was ready to collapse. Shocked into silence, Brock led her inside. He made sure to lock the door.

The appearance of the living room was simple with white walls and gray furniture. It contrasted with the bright colors of the posters and framed pictures of Brock's various crushes. A poster of Akira was prominently featured. By the time Delia managed to catch her breath, Brock had brought her a cool glass of water, which she accepted, drinking it slowly, "thank you."

"What happened to you?" Brock was seriously worried. Delia was not only his best friend's mother, but also a mother figure to him. His own mother had often been absent and Delia had always been supportive. Seeing her like that was very difficult for him. He remembered his worries about the Viridian gym leader's resemblance to the man who had tried to capture Mewtwo. If Delia had lost contact with Giovanni many years ago, there was no telling how much he could have changed during that time. "Did he hurt you?" Brock asked softly but seriously, "was it Giovanni?"

"Of course not!" Delia slammed the glass hard on the coffee table, causing it to crack. She continued in a defensive tone, "he wouldn't hurt me." 'Other people maybe, pokemon yes, but not me, not physically at least,' she thought.

"Sorry!" Brock jumped back, "I meant no offense."

Delia calmed down, examining the cracked glass on the stone coffee table, "I'm sorry I snapped at you. Giovanni might be in danger, I'm worried about him." The traitors must have seen her with Giovanni and tried to use her as a hostage.

Delia's cell phone rang all of a sudden, it had been deactivated before, but it was working again. Giovanni had to be calling her, she was sure it must be him, "Giovanni?"

"You shouldn't have run away," Giovanni was driving towards Pewter City, following the tracking device on Delia's cell phone.

Delia froze and tears started running down her face. A lot was going on and on top of everything Giovanni said the same thing she heard him saying in dreams long ago. When Ash was still small, she would dream that Giovanni went to find her at Pallet Town. "I'm sorry," she sobbed, "I had to," she wasn't only talking about leaving the mansion.

"Delia?" Was she with the enemy? Did she know what happened in Vermilion City? Giovanni was full of questions. "What's happening?"

"Nothing, I'm alright now," Delia didn't want to say too much; she didn't want to get Brock involved. From the corner of her eyes, she watched Brock leave the living room, as if to respect her privacy. He was a nice man and she truly hoped that he would one day achieve his dream of finding someone to share his life with. If only he could learn to control his flirty tendencies maybe it wouldn't be so difficult. "I'm at Rock On, the pokemon breeding center at Pewter City. It's right next to the gym. The owner is a friend, he doesn't know any secrets, so please don't get him involved," she whispered quietly.

"Stay there, I'm on my way. Turn your cell phone off; don't use it unless it's an emergency." Communication was necessary even at a risk, but Giovanni would no longer need to track Delia if she waited for him. He had many things to ask, but he had to do that in person. He would make sure not to leave her alone to run off again, he had to get to the bottom of everything. Giovanni turned and took an alternate route on his way to Rock On. He moved away from the main streets to avoid a traffic jam ahead. The police had closed a road and was redirecting traffic due to an accident. Giovanni didn't suspect Delia's involvement in it. He did notice that the affected store was one of the places that did business with Team Rocket.

"Okay, I'll see you soon," after turning off her cell phone, Delia sat in silence until Brock returned. 

Brock had noticed the red R on Delia's little black cell phone. He wanted to ask about it, but he didn't want her to get defensive again. "These clothes are from my sister, I asked her to bring some," he voiced quietly, not sure how to handle the situation. "The bathroom is down the hall and to the right, if you want to get cleaned up and changed."

Delia stood up and took the clothes, "thank you." She made herself look calm, though she still felt guilty at Brock's worried expression. 

After Delia disappeared down the hall, Brock decided to call Ash. He had thought about tagging along with him and Misty so he could see Misty's sisters, but decided against it in the end. His excuse was that he had to return to the breeding center. His siblings took turns taking care of it when Brock was away. In truth, he just didn't want to be reminded that Misty's sisters were not single. Lily had recently come out of a painful break up, but Brock was unaware of that. Had he known, he would have immediately gone to Cerulean City and offered to comfort her.

Before he made the call, Brock paused seeing his best friend's image on the TV screen. Ash's picture floated on the upper right corner of the screen, next to a woman who sat behind a desk giving a report. Brock had lowered the volume when he went to get the door, but the images and quiet murmurs still remained in the background. He quickly turned the volume up as the news anchor, Ameda, finished speaking. The screen changed to a video of Ash defending the Viridian City gym leader. He knew Delia might take some time to compose herself, but he had to call Ash before she returned. He didn't want to hear any objections about it, so he quickly made the call, focusing on that rather than the TV.

"Hi Brock," Ash greeted, having seen his name on the caller ID of his cell phone. "You're not going to believe all the things that are going on. Did you hear about Vermilion City?"

Brock wasn't sure what Ash was talking about, but he had an important message to communicate. "Ash," Brock sounded worried. Ash knew right away this wasn't simply one of his random calls to vent about his latest rejection. "Stay calm, don't panic," such serious words were sure to have the opposite effect. "I think there's something bad going on with your mom. I think Team Rocket is involved." He wouldn't throw another accusation at Giovanni, not after seeing that news bulletin about Ash. If both Ash and his mother defended him so much, Brock would just have to believe them.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. Pixel's father had a brief appearance in the beginning of Diamond 27. Mondo is from the Team Rocket radio drama.


	14. Part 14

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 51: Give me Communication

Ash, Lando and the Waterflower sisters were at the Vermilion City hospital, when Ash received Brock's call. "I have to go," Ash suddenly exclaimed, taking everyone by surprise. "Thanks for telling me Brock, I'm on my way," he ended the call before Brock could say anything more. "Let's go Pikachu," he picked up the yellow electric pokemon, glanced meaningfully at Misty and rushed out of the room.

"Ash, what's going on?" Misty hurried out of Lando's room after him. Lando's head was finally starting to clear up for real. He and the Waterflower sisters were worried and perplexed by Ash's sudden reaction.

"I don't know, but Brock just called me saying mom's in trouble," Ash hastily explained in alarm. Misty was walking beside him down the hall towards the elevator. "I don't really understand, but it looks like Team Rocket is involved." A theory occurred to Ash, "maybe Team Rocket is behind the false accusations to Giovanni. They must be trying to frame him for something and mom got caught in the middle of that."

Ash slammed his finger repeatedly against the elevator's button. Daisy watched from the door to Lando's room up the hall. Violet was standing mid way down the hall and hurried to Ash and Misty. "Everything will be alright," Misty reassured more so to Ash than her sisters. "I'll call later." The elevator finally opened and Ash and Misty got in leaving the other Waterflower sisters to stay at the Vermilion hospital. 

xoxox xox xoxox

In Pallet Town, Gary rushed into his grandfather's house. The elderly professor Oak was fast asleep sitting on the couch in front of the TV, which displayed a documentary about pokemon. "I'm going to track down an evil Rocket and protect Pallet Town. I might not be back for a while," Gary rushed past his grandfather and got six of his pokemon from the lab. He ran out again as he hastily explained.

Professor Oak drowsily woke up at the voice. It puzzled him how Gary could be so energetic after staying up all night dealing with that loud mouth insomniac Electabuzz. He didn't quite catch what his grandson was saying, but Gary was already out the door before he could inquire about it. The young seemed to have an infinite supply of energy.

xoxox xox xoxox

On the road from Pallet to Viridian a voice called out, "Pixel!" Upon hearing her nickname, Pixel stopped running. She looked at the expensive neon-cyan colored convertible car that stopped on the side of the road next to her.

The hood of the car was up and the windows were tinted like mirrors. The driver soon lowered the mirror glass and Pixel immediately recognized her. "Akira?" She was surprised to see Akira there, despite being unaware of her connections to the incident in Vermilion City.

"Get in, I don't think you should be running around in plain sight with all that's been going on," Akira invited.

"Thanks," Pixel got into the passenger's seat and Akira continued on her way. "Some guy saw me in Pallet Town. I don't think he had any pokemon, that's how I managed to get away. Don't tell anyone about that. I was looking for someone who escaped from the boss' mansion. Have you seen a woman with long brown hair around here?"

"I haven't," Akira's voice was monotonous, rather than cheerful as it usually was. "Have you seen a little dark green car?"

"No..." Pixel observed her friend, "are you worried about Team Rocket?" She would think Akira of all people would be able to handle the pressure. Pixel perceived her as being very brave.

"I lost them," Akira frowned, "listen Pixel, I don't want you involved so I'm just going to drop you off at HQ." She drove towards Viridian City in a hurry.

"What's going on?" Something was wrong with Akira, Pixel could guess that much. It was more than just stress.

"I can't tell you," Akira admitted, "there are some things I'm going to do that the boss may not approve of. I don't care, I want them dead."

"What?" The situation was obviously more serious than Pixel had imagined, "who?"

"I've said too much as it is," Akira went silent, her expression a mix of frustration, anger and sadness.

"Akira," Pixel insisted, "what are you planning? Why are you doing this? You're not one of them are you? One of the traitors?"

Akira gripped the steering wheel tightly, "don't even think of it. They are the ones I'm going to kill," despite having intended to remain silent, it was all too much to keep bottled up. "Don't you see? The boss isn't going to kill them because he needs someone to blame. He'll capture them and they'll take the blame. Then Team Rocket will be off the hook, but that's not enough for me!"

"I don't think it will be that simple," Pixel quietly voiced, "but why do you want them dead? I know you really like Team Rocket. If you just said they are necessary, then why?"

"It's not about Team Rocket!" Akira growled, "it's about Mirta and revenge. They killed Mirta so I'll kill them. She was the only one who knew, the only one who could tell me. In the end, she left me with only a small clue, but it doesn't matter anymore. Mirta raised me and protected me. She had a reason to keep me in the orphanage for so many years. She feared I would be discovered, but I still don't fully understand what that means. When I was a teenager I decided to leave. I wanted to live my life, but I couldn't let go of my past." Akira stopped; they were just outside Viridian City. Abundant tears ran down her face and her vision was a blur.

"Akira..." Pixel didn't know what to do to comfort her friend. She couldn't even make sense of the things Akira was saying.

"That's not my name," Akira whispered almost inaudibly. Her hands still gripped the steering wheel, her forehead resting on top of it. She felt Pixel's hand on her shoulder but could draw no comfort from it. What Akira wanted the most was to understand her origin. She feared she would never obtain it. "It's just a name my agent gave me," he adopted her, but he could not be called a father. "Secura, my real name is Secura. It mean's 'to heal', Mirta was a very hopeful person. She thought everything could be healed in time. She kept me at the orphanage to protect me. She didn't really explain much about it. She only gave me a clue; she told me my mother was a Rocket."

In the sky above Akira's car, Gary flew away riding on his Pidgeot. He saw a few cars below. Among them there was a very brightly colored one in neon-cyan that stood out. He didn't see the Rocket girl anywhere. He didn't want to go further away from Pallet Town; it would be left unguarded without him. Gary resolved to return to town for the time being. She got away, but he would capture her if she returned.

xoxox xox xoxox

At Pewter City, Delia was looking out the window at Rock On. She watched as Giovanni's car stopped in front of the structure and he got out. She was opening the front door before he had time to get within a few feet of it. Brock had been asking questions as delicately and casually as he could and Delia had been giving him excuses. She didn't want to reveal anything that might get him involved in Team Rocket's problems.

"What happened to you?" Giovanni paused in front of the door. Delia was clearly in a hurry to leave, it made everything all the more suspicious.

She had changed out of her torn clothes, now wearing jeans and a yellow t-shirt. The clothes were borrowed from Yolanda, one of Brock's sisters. However, despite having gotten cleaned up, she still had her bruises from her battle to escape her kidnappers. "I'll explain on the way." She glanced back inside where Brock stood, looking concerned and worried. "Everything is fine now, sorry to barge in on you like that. Just forget it ever happened," Delia gave him a bright smile, though it was obviously forced.

Giovanni began to silently theorize about the situation. The young man at Rock On was the same one he had seen with Ash before. It solidified his theory that Delia was being used by the enemy. She didn't do her job of spying on him and getting information, so they hurt her. He watched her get into the passenger seat of his car with Persian jumping on her lap to be petted. Giovanni paused, typed a small message into his little cell phone and sent it, hoping that it made it through the system despite its recent malfunctions.

He felt a different kind of anger towards the enemies. With the suspicion that the one at Rock On had hurt Delia it took every ounce of will power he had not to march in there for an immediate violent vengeance. Such rash actions would only bring trouble for Team Rocket, for himself, and for Delia. Delia didn't see the message and she didn't think too much of it when she saw Giovanni typing something in his cell phone. Soon after, he shut it off again.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Viridian Rocket base, Laiki received an email marked as high priority. A small icon on the bottom right of her computer screen next to the time flashed to alert her of it. She opened the email immediately, realizing it was from Giovanni. First there was a password composed of random letters and numbers. The password was correct confirming that this was a real order from Giovanni. If he was putting her on field duty it meant he got tired of waiting for her to figure things out. The thought frustrated her as an information gatherer, but she was at least trusted with a mission. At least that proved that the boss knew she wasn't a traitor.

Next to the password there was the order, 'code red, Rock On, Pewter, plan 3'. Translated, the spy movie style gibberish meant that an establishment called Rock On located in Pewter City was discovered to be an enemy base. It had to be secretly taken over. The order required immediate action, thus Laiki left her theories for later. She got ready to put a squad together and storm Rock On. She knew she better not mess up that mission. Field work was not her forte, but she wouldn't have to worry about combat if she was well armed.

A few minutes later Laiki was in the weapons storage room when Pixel rushed in looking for her, "Laiki!"

Laiki tried to even her breathing and heartbeats, which jumped in speed when she was startled. "Don't pop out of nowhere like that, especially when I'm holding a bazooka!" She scolded, setting the bazooka aside. She was in good shape in terms of looks, but her fighting capabilities were that of an average person, she needed to be armed. "What are you doing here? Did something happen? Who were you chasing? Did anyone see you come to HQ?" Laiki took another look at the bazooka. She decided it was too large to work given the secrecy of the mission, plus it was uncomfortably heavy. "Now that I think about it, how did you get inside this room?"

"I know all the pass codes for the Viridian HQ. I took them from the system with Prism's help back when I was in hacking training. Don't tell anyone, it's not like I've done anything bad with this information," Pixel hurriedly excused herself. She then replied to the rest of Laiki's questions in a similar rush. "I was chasing Delia; the boss had her locked up in his mansion. She got away and I lost track of her. Some guy from Pallet Town saw me, but I got away from him. No one saw me come into HQ. Akira gave me a ride and dropped me off in the forest so I rushed over here through one of the secret doors."

"Delia? Akira?" Laiki froze, almost dropping the revolver she held. "You know where they are? You've spoken to them recently?"

Laiki's tone hinted to Pixel that she was aware that something must be going on. Maybe she had some answers, "yes, Akira is heading to Saffron City. She must be passing through Pewter City by now. I don't really understand what's going on, but Akira was a mess. She kept saying something about getting revenge for Mirta. She said her mother was a Rocket and that her real name was Secura."

"Mirta was killed in the Vermilion City attack," Laiki began to explain. "She worked at the orphanage. That's where Akira or Secura grew up. The name is not really a secret, though I'm already used to calling her Akira. Mirta raised Akira so I can understand that she wants revenge. If she does something, it'll be troublesome for Team Rocket. Things are already a big enough mess. As for her mother being a Rocket, I have no idea who her parents could be."

"I didn't know Akira grew up there. So that's what she meant when she said the boss wouldn't kill them because he needed someone to blame. It was about the fake Rockets." Pixel concluded. "She also mentioned looking for a little green car."

Laiki had been staying up to date with the news through the internet. "There was an accident involving a green car that crashed into a store in Pewter City. A Rocket was arrested after he started trying to shoot an unknown woman who ran out of the car after the accident. His accomplice got away. I didn't have time to wait for visuals. I only read the bulletin before they published anything else. I'm not sure what the people looked like, just that two of them were dressed as Rockets."

Laiki continued, "where is Delia now? How much does Akira know? I thought she was in Vermilion, what business does she have in Saffron?" Laiki could feel the beginnings of a strong headache. "When I last saw the boss, he was heading to the mansion to interrogate Delia. Something needs to be done about Akira and the communication system is still malfunctioning. I also have a mission to tend to... too many things at once!" 

Laiki took a deep breath. "I have to go on my mission, but I can't leave the base to fall apart. I'll get my teammates and go. But before that, I'll help you round up a squad here too. You can clean up the base. I'm beginning to suspect that the ones who are supposed to be cleaning the viruses off our satellite mainframe are taking too long. It's too suspicious, no more of that innocent until proven guilty stuff. We can't wait for the boss to do everything; we'll have to show him we're capable agents."

"Clean up?" It was chasing Delia which made Pixel run into Akira. That led her to return to the Viridian headquarters and placed her into her current position. From that point on, the chain of events that made her regain her confidence would be inevitably set into motion. If not for getting locked up with Delia, Pixel would be on break and half way to Cerulean City in a taxi to attend a sci-fi convention.

"You don't have a choice. The boss gave me an important mission and I have to go, but things can't be left as they are here." Determined, Laiki exited the weapons storage room.

xoxox xox xoxox

After leaving Rock On, Giovanni and Delia were on the road to Cerulean City. He intended for Delia to stay there, if he could get her to stay in one place. "Don't run away again, you're just going to get hurt," he warned. "After this, I don't think you'll want to cooperate with them anymore."

"Cooperate with who?" Delia had caught a glimpse of the deadly glare Giovanni had given Brock. She saw how Brock paled as if Giovanni was draining away his very life with his eyes. "You're not trying to say you think Brock hurt me, are you? It's not like that."

"Then who did?" Giovanni inquired urgently.

"After I escaped from your mansion two people dressed in Team Rocket uniforms came to find me. At first I thought they were real Rockets that were taking me to you. After I got into their car I realize they were not real Rockets. I tried to escape from the car when they stopped at a traffic light. I caught them by surprise because they thought they still had me fooled. I guess that's why the man didn't have time to use his gun at that point," Delia realized.

"You were kidnapped by armed traitors?" Giovanni didn't know the situation was like that. He didn't think the traitors would go after Delia, let alone in such a way.

"Yes, but I got away." Delia explained, "when I tried to escape the man who was in the back of the car with me stopped me. I managed to throw the door open and yell for help. The people on the street realized I was being kidnapped. The woman driving tried to get away before the police was alerted." 

Delia continued, "I kept trying to get the man to let me go and was finally able to grab the woman's hair. I pulled it as hard as I could. She was driving really fast and lost control of the car. She crashed into a store and the man and I felt the impact in the back of the car too. Fortunately, other then a few bruises and cuts there were no big injuries. I escaped thanks to the crash and ran across the street from side to side. I was trying to lose those two between the cars. That's when I realized that man was armed. He started shooting at me and hit a few cars. I don't think anyone got injured, but there was a lot of property damage."

"Jenny arrived and sent out her Arcanine. Arcanine attacked the man, but I kept running. When I finally looked back, the woman wasn't chasing me anymore. She must have given up after the police showed up. I didn't want to be taken in for questioning so I hid at Rock On. Brock doesn't know anything, so please don't get him mixed up in this. He's a good boy and I don't want him to be in unnecessary danger," Delia's face was filled with worry. She could almost feel the rush of adrenaline returning to her. This time she was all too conscious of the fact that she wasn't an invincible vigilante.

Giovanni took in all the information. He was not fully conscious about how his expression had turned into a grin for a moment, before becoming serious again. "I almost forgot that you are capable of defending yourself well. That was still very dangerous. What about Team Rockets enemies, what can you tell me about them?"

"Nothing, I honestly don't know what in the world is going on!" Delia emphasized, "why have you been acting so strange?"

"You're not a spy," Giovanni realized, "you just have bad timing. Is that all? It doesn't make sense."

"You're the one who's not making any sense," Delia argued.

"I'm having problems with some traitors. You happen to show up with some secret information to give me concerning Ash, but you didn't tell me in the end. It was all too suspicious, enough games, tell me the truth. Is Ash involved with Team Rocket's enemies? That man from Rock On was with Ash before, is he involved in this? Is the redhead girl in it too?" Giovanni finally asked all the questions directly, looking completely serious.

"It's not like that," Delia was shocked, "Team Rocket has tried to steal Ash's pokemon in the past. They have tried to cause trouble and he stopped them, but that's just because he was there. He was involved without trying. It's not like he goes around picking a fight with Team Rocket. He definitely would never be involved in anything like what happened in Vermilion City. Don't you even dare think that way of him!" 

Delia felt as if her voice was being choked by a pain in her heart. She pushed herself to continue, "is that why you asked me to stay with you? You thought I was trying to cause trouble? You thought I was trying to do something that would harm you? Is that what it was all about? Obtaining information from me, that's all you wanted? I don't know what's worse, that you used me or that you thought I would try to hurt you... No, the worse thing is that you thought such terrible things of Ash. He's completely innocent. My timing was bad, this is... terrible," Delia finished in a whisper.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 52: Give me Pride

Laiki rushed down the underground tunnels of the Viridian Rocket headquarters followed by Pixel. "You can't just leave me like this. I'll mess up and there will go my chances of ever cashing in on the better missions!"

"If you mess up, you'll be dead," the grin on Laiki's face never faded. She added when she saw Pixel's stubborn sarcastic look, "I'm not kidding, arm yourself. This is war and the enemy has infiltrated our fortress."

They arrived at an underground garage where several normal looking cars were stored, they were anything but normal. Most of them were black, the classic color of spy movie cars, the kind that was loaded with missiles. Five Rocket grunts followed after the two girls. Three of them got into one of the cars. They waited for Laiki, their squad leader, to take the driver's seat.

"What about the squad you said you would help me put together," Pixel eyed the other two grunts standing next to her with distrust, "we need more allies."

The garage was dimly lit, with gray walls and floors. There was a ramp going up to the ceiling, where a secret door opened leading to the Viridian Forest. "You'll have to make due. I know you have some Rocket fire in you, now is your time to show it." As Laiki opened the door on the ceiling two people and a pokemon fell in. The man and woman were wearing Team Rocket uniforms. The pokemon was a Meowth. "Jessie? James?"

"You know them?" Pixel observed them with suspicion, "why were you up there?"

"We're here to bring important information!" Jessie announced. She honestly didn't know what possessed her to rush to Viridian City after having given up on contacting Giovanni by phone. She told herself the only reason she was there to help the one who had fired them, was because James wouldn't stop whining about it.

"That's right, we know all about Neo Rocket. We're ready to help take them down." James knew that deep down Jessie couldn't stand the idea of Team Rocket falling apart any more than he could. Their Rocket pride pushed them to do their part to save Team Rocket as soon as possible. Besides, Meowth kept worrying about the boss and they had to shut him up somehow.

"Jessie and James... Those two are not Rockets anymore, but I don't think they would ever be traitors. They have real Rocket pride, even if they're incompetent," Laiki explained.

"Hey!" Jessie and James called out in unison; they didn't go all the way from Saffron to Viridian to be criticized.

"Pixel, here's the rest of your squad. The boss will probably have my head for this, but as an agent of a higher rank I'm ordering you to work with these two," Laiki decided and grimacing she prepared to leave, "why does the juicy information arrive when I have to go?" She started up the car and headed up the ramp towards the forest calling out, "Jessie, James, take care of the rookie for me."

"I've been a Rocket for some time; I'm not a rookie anymore!" Pixel argued, but Laiki was already gone. The term rookie still somehow fit despite the time she had spent in Team Rocket. She still getting adjusted and finding her place, so she came off as a rookie. The car sped through the secret forest paths, off to take over Rock On in Pewter City.

"What about me?" Meowth pouted, feeling ignored.

"Alright you two," Pixel noticed Meowth's frown deepening, "three," she corrected, "I can access the secret equipment rooms, but you guys need to give me some information first. What is that Neo Rocket you mentioned? Either way, whoever the traitors are, I'm pretty sure they know they're being hunted, so they'll be prepared."

Jessie grinned, taking command of the mission, "just follow my lead and we'll clean out all the traitors in no time." She had always wanted to command an important mission like this.

xoxox xox xoxox

On the road towards Cerulean City, the atmosphere in Giovanni's car was tense. He had more questions than ever about Ash and his obvious importance to Delia. She was upset and it was all because of his incorrect theory. He shouldn't have made the assumption that she was a spy; it only made things more complicated. He decided to take a moment to think and choose his words carefully. Then he saw a neon-cyan colored car ahead. He knew it was Akira's car and he knew she could cause trouble for Team Rocket if he let her go. He followed the car while he tried to come up with something to say to Delia.

Akira noticed she was being followed. Hiding would not be easy in the light traffic. She recognized the custom made black car as being one of Giovanni's cars and sped up, zigzagging to get past the cars ahead. 

Giovanni followed her. He knew he had been seen, but he couldn't let her get away. She would make things more difficult for Team Rocket.

Delia looked up at the road ahead. Giovanni had obviously started chasing someone; it had to be that neon-cyan car. She held on to Persian tightly, "who is that?"

"Akira," Giovanni focused on the road and on not crashing with the other cars.

Akira had to get away; she needed to meet her informant at Saffron City without being followed. She recklessly switched lanes, passing in front of the opposing flow of traffic. A car came to a screeching halt, with the one behind it, crashing into it.

Giovanni drove after her, passing in front of the accident. He would have to make up a story about his car having been stolen to avoid his reputation as the gym leader being stained. 

Akira left the main road, turning towards the mountains north-east of Pewter City. She drove as fast as she could without losing control of the car in the narrow mountain paths. To her surprise, Giovanni accelerated in pursuit. 

Akira tried to hurry and took a sharp turn on the mountain's side. Her car skittered to the side, unable to stay on the dirt road. It slid down the mountain, though luckily, it didn't overturn. The neon-cyan car came to a stop at the bottom of the mountain, crashing into some rocks near a small stream. Akira battled to get out of the car, pushing the airbag aside and stumbling out. She fell with a sharp pain on her left leg. She was bleeding black blood.

Giovanni stopped on top of the mountain side road. "I can't let her get away. We're also being followed." He noticed the seemingly normal bronze car following them from a distance when the pursuit began. It took a different route at the base of the mountain. The digital display of the speedometer changed to Akira's image below. There was a red circle with a cross targeting her. The words 'lock on' flashed red on the screen.

"You're not going to shoot a missile at her, are you?" Delia asked in alarm. She was ready to stop Giovanni if those were his intentions.

"Relax, it's just a net. I need to capture her alive and interrogate her," Giovanni assured. He pressed the bottom to fire the net. A cannon extended from the car's front, shooting the net at Akira below.

Akira screamed and fell to the ground again when the net landed on her. Despite the pain she continued struggling to get away. With a small pocket knife, she tried to cut the net open as fast as she could. She could see Giovanni was already on his way down the cliff followed by Delia and Persian.

"You should have just waited in the car," Giovanni argued as he tried to hurry before Akira escaped. He lost his footing and fell down the cliff. He got up, a little scratched and bruised, but otherwise alright.

"No way, I'm helping you catch her and taking care of her injuries when we get her back in the car," Delia hurried down the cliff. She stumbled down and fell into Giovanni, but he was able to catch her.

A sudden explosion resonated from the top of the mountain. From the angle at the top, the ones that triggered the explosion didn't see that Giovanni and Delia were out of the car. The explosion had to be the work of their pursuers in the bronze car.

A large boulder was set lose from the mountain and it fell on top of Giovanni's car, the damage was extensive. The weapons system short circuited and several missiles where shot on their own. One of the missiles fell between Akira and Giovanni. Giovanni, Delia and Persian took cover behind some rocks and Akira hurried to get away. She had freed herself from the net right on time. 

The aftershock of the missile pushed Akira into the little stream ahead. It was too small and gentle to drown in, but the water was tinted black. The color dissolved as it was carried by the stream. She was in bad shape, but Akira wasn't going to give up. She struggled to get away despite her injuries, leaving a trail of black blood in her path.

The black car was consumed by fire when the rest of its weapons exploded within it. Giovanni, Delia and Persian got away from the falling rocks, debris and sparks on the mountain side. They dashed towards Akira, but were stopped by a sudden gunshot that just barely missed Giovanni. He and Delia, along with Persian, took cover behind the rock formations again. "We're surrounded," Giovanni realized. 

Two men and a woman approached from different directions, all of them armed. Akira lay still on the ground until a man and woman were close to her. Then she suddenly took out a hidden gun and opened fire, killing them both at point blank.

"Giovanni, she shot them!" Delia cried.

"I know," what Giovanni didn't understand was why Akira didn't use her gun sooner. She had a good chance to shoot him when he was going down the cliff. In truth, Akira didn't want Team Rocket to fall apart without its leader. She only wanted revenge on the false Rockets who killed Mirta.

Only one man remained, he moved fast towards Akira with full intentions of killing her. It all happened in a split second; the man aimed his gun at Akira and she did not react fast enough. Giovanni shot a well aimed bullet at the man's hand, making him drop the gun in pain. Akira took the opportunity to shoot the man in the head before collapsing of blood loss.

Amidst the chaos, the sound of a helicopter was heard. "The police!" It was the worse timing possible. Giovanni couldn't let himself be seen like this. He grabbed Delia's hand, running towards a cave on the mountain side hastily. They dashed through the dark tunnels with Persian following them.

"Giovanni, those people who got shot might still be alive. Akira is injured but alive. We have to do something," Delia struggled to get free, but Giovanni wouldn't let her go.

"They're dead; no one can survive a bullet at point blank. I don't want to leave Akira in the hands of the police, but I have no choice. Besides, what can we do? It's for a different reason than you, but I didn't want them dead either." He needed information and someone to blame. "The police will help them. If there's anything that can be done, they can do it a lot better than we could."

Delia stopped struggling, instead running along with Giovanni, gripping his hand tightly. "I wish this hadn't happen." They approached the end of the tunnel in the area north west of Cerulean City. They exited the tunnel cautiously, there didn't seem to be anyone out there. The old burnt ruins of a structure were seen near by. Delia recognized it, "it's our old hide out. There was a terrible massacre on that day when the Tempest Gang burned everything. So many pokemon passed away that day, today is a catastrophe too."

Giovanni had not set foot in his old hideout in many years. The ruins were all but forgotten when Team Rocket took over the Viridian gym. He searched around the floor until he found a secret door, leading to a small basement. "We should stay here for a little while. It's not safe to go out there yet." The secret underground room was nothing special, but it would keep them hidden.

Delia took one last look at the darkening skies before going down to the secret room with Giovanni and Persian. She felt as if the darkness would consume her. The day was ending and the sun was sadly setting. Darkness invaded the atmosphere in more ways than one.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, at the Vermilion City hospital, Lando was arguing on the phone. "I don't care if it's late!" He yelled into his cell phone, "I don't care about what the board of executives says either. I want all business to be halted immediately!" The pain killers had finally left his system sufficiently so that his anger and frustration surfaced full force. He growled in agitation and ended the call. "Daisy, darling, I must go to Ackbar Inc. headquarters right now. I need to take care of a few things."

"But it's the evening and we've had such a rough day," Daisy argued with worry.

Lando looked terribly ashamed, as if he hid a dark secret. "I don't understand what's happening, but I must get to the bottom of this. I need to know why he betrayed us," Lando got up from his bed, despite Daisy's efforts to convince him to rest at least until the next day.

"What are you talking about?" Daisy insisted on knowing. Violet and Lily watched the argument uncomfortable and concerned.

"Daisy, my sweet," Lando simply couldn't look into her eyes. "I'm sorry, but Ackbar Inc. is not an honest company. I didn't want you or your family to know about this, but I can't hide it anymore. When I was very young I was ill and desperately needed surgery. It was a life or death situation. A few years before that, a pokemon epidemic spread through the land and the discovery of the antidote marked its end. Large companies rushed to buy the limited supply of antidote from the mafia. They had it before it was officially released. Waiting for legal approval would have meant the death of many pokemon, so no one ever pressed charges."

Lando continued, "my father's company sold supplies for pokemon only at the time. He had been struggling to stay in the market and didn't have the money to pay for the antidote. Even if reselling it would surely bring a benefit, he couldn't afford the merchandise in the first place. Because of that, his company went down and never recovered. Later, when my life was in danger, father made a deal with the mafia. That same man who was selling the antidote before, agreed to let my father borrow the money he needed to pay for my surgery. In exchange Ackbar Inc. would follow his orders from that day forward."

"My father agreed," Lando revealed, "he didn't have a choice. Things were not as bad as he expected. Business was expanded and many medical discoveries were made. Both pokemon and humans were helped. In the end, that deal had a positive effect for Ackbar Inc. and for all of Kanto. So many lives were saved because of the products we developed with the help of their scientists," he left out the part about pokemon experimentation as part of the development of their products. His father had tried to paint the picture as positively as he could when he son became old enough to know.

"I didn't know what that man from the mafia hoped to accomplish beyond monetary benefits. It was as if he were doing a good deed by taking control and guiding medical science towards great new discoveries. I understand now, Ackbar Inc. was pushed to the top so that he could control Kanto's medical supplies. I've had enough of this," Lando's pain and anger was reflected in his eyes, "regardless of what happened in the past, I can't forgive this. Team Rocket will not continue being benefited by Ackbar Inc., even if it drives the company to bankruptcy," and even if Kanto's health system collapses.

"I must know why the leader of Team Rocket betrayed the Ackbar family. He was the one with whom my father made that deal. We did what he asked, business had been going well. He had no reason to attack us!" Lando firmly declared, "the Ackbar clan might be powerless in comparison to the Roketto clan, but I can't ignore this. My beloved Daisy, that is why we can't get married. Since the time my father died, I became the new head of a mafia group. Until today, we operated serving the most powerful mafia group there is. Now we're about to go to war with them. I'm sorry; I have to avenge my father. I must, even if it means going against the man who saved my life years ago for his own benefit."

"Lando..." Daisy gasped in surprised, while Violet and Lily were shocked to silence. "It doesn't matter! I don't care if you're a gangster. I don't even care if you're like a low rank gangster, I still love you."

xoxox xox xoxox

In the ruins of the old Team Rocket hideout, Giovanni, Delia and Persian sat on the floor. The little underground room was in total darkness. Giovanni's cell phone wasn't working at all anymore. Silence invaded the room for a few long moments. Finally, Giovanni quietly requested, "tell me about Ash."

Delia had wanted to hear something like that from him for a long time, but the situation was different now. "Before that I want you to tell me the whole truth about what's going on. I will answer all your questions soon. Please be honest with me. Regardless of what happened, in the end, you have the right to know. I've kept the secret long enough."

"Alright, I'll tell you," he knew he didn't have to tell her to keep it a secret. This whole mess would have been less complicated if he hadn't doubted her in the first place. "For the most part, things have been going well for Team Rocket. Every now and then there would be a little trouble, but it was nothing big. Then I found out about some traitors that were keeping strong pokemon and several other resources to themselves."

Delia wanted to tell him that pokemon were not just resources but stopped herself from interrupting.

Giovanni continued, "I suspected they were planning something big. At first I thought the traitors were actually infiltrators from an outside organization that held a grudge against Team Rocket. Later, another theory emerged that this was all an inside job. I thought they were traitors within Team Rocket trying to take over. Although it was still evident they had connections on the outside."

"You showed up when all of this was happening, when everything was full of uncertainty," Giovanni explained. "You told me you had something to say and kept hinting without telling me. I started to find it suspicious. At first I didn't know what to think of your sudden visit. Then everything appeared to fall into place. I thought you were sent to spy on me by the enemy because of our past. I thought you were unsure about what you should do. That you were debating if you should reveal the truth or not."

Delia felt a fresh stab of pain but didn't say anything. She knew it; she was being used. She didn't care anymore. She couldn't walk away from this. Besides, somehow she still saw a glimmer of hope, though she couldn't quite understand why.

Giovanni's expression remained unseen in the darkness of the little underground room. Delia honestly couldn't imagine it. "Because of how you spoke of Ash and his presence when there was an explosion underground, I thought I was right. I thought he was the one who sent you to spy on me. While we were at the mansion I got an emergency call and began to think that your true purpose was to serve as a distraction to make me lower my guard. That's why I locked you up and left to try to get things under control. I found out that Ash had defended me when he was interviewed by a reporter. All those accusations surfaced as the enemy's way to pressure the police into taking action. I thought it was a trick," Giovanni finished, "Do you know about Vermilion? That's how everything became public and complicated."

"Yes, I saw what happened on the news while I was at the mansion," Delia confirmed. She asked about something else that bothered her. "Why is Akira's blood black instead of red? Has she been experimented on? I thought that after what happened to Aayla there would be no more human experiments."

"I can honestly tell you I have no idea about Akira," Giovanni was also puzzled about that strange detail, but he didn't disregard the possibility of a mutation. He knew there had been human experimentation in the past, but Akira wasn't supposed to be one the subjects. "If she was experimented on, it was done without my knowledge." 

Delia found that she could believe him. Giovanni was obviously confused about it too. Yet she knew there was more to it.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 53: Give me Truth

In an undisclosed location, at an unspecified time... The boy looked at the pictures on the screen. There were nothing but bits and pieces left to be discovered. These particular files were deemed useless for the purpose of his mission. He was still curious and wanted to look at those files, to learn their destiny. He had been told the files were not recordings of history, merely agent profiles. He wanted to learn about the organization's past so he opened them.

The screen became black with a red R and a semi-robotic voice was heard, "I don't recognize this system, you must not have authorization to view these files. Goodbye!" The screen went blank.

"What? There was a security virus on those?" The boy tried to restart the futuristic computer but it didn't work. He was amazed that such an ancient virus would render his technology useless so easily. 

"Brat boy, what did you do?" An angry female voice called from a different room in the underground base, "the system's locked up!"

"Oops..." The boy glanced at his pokemon. "I think this is a great time to go out and train, don't you?" He hurried to make his escape.

xoxox xox xoxox

On the road to Saffron City, in the present time. Akira lay on the back of a yellow mini-van feeling pained and sore all over her body, especially her left leg. Despite that, she drifted off to sleep.

She had been taken away by the police and the paramedics they called. She received first aid, though the paramedics were curious and unnerved by the unnatural color of her blood. They thought it was due to some kind of drug. In truth, it was the color it had been for Akira's whole life. She never tried to get any kind of lab tests for it, she was afraid to find something terrible. 

When she was with the paramedics, she pretended to still be lightheaded. She had woken up completely shortly after her bleeding stopped. She acted as if she couldn't move to make them lower their guard. Then she made a hasty escape from the ambulance as soon as it entered Pewter City. 

The ambulance was being escorted by the police, but it didn't matter. Several people on the streets recognized Akira and were quick to help her, even if they didn't know what was going on.

Akira jumped from the back of the ambulance to the top of the police car that was following it closely. The car stopped immediately, so the impact was not too hard when she fell off. She struggled to her feet, leaning on her good leg and calling out for help. Those who recognized her rushed to her, pushing the officers away. One person called another and as they made their get away, the number of fans that gathered grew. 

The police officers were able to detain many of them with charges of helping Akira. She was accused of murder, but she escaped. The yellow mini-van driven by her fans would take her to Saffron City, to her informant. For the time being, she could rest.

xoxox xox xoxox

Silence had once again invaded the little underground room in the ruins of the old Team Rocket hideout. Confused by the situation Giovanni found himself thinking of various things. Perhaps it was a distraction to escape thinking of Delia and the effect his false accusation had. 

Binks had a brilliant mind on occasion, but more often than not lately, he lost himself to his hallucinations. Even so, he had made many discoveries over the years. Giovanni was convinced that the Mewtwo experiment had failed when the laboratory exploded. Many scientists died on that day, but Binks and a few others were rescued barely alive. 

Binks eventually recovered. The only ones who knew of his existence in the world of the living were Giovanni, Laiki, and those who worked directly with him. All of them were to keep it a secret. Binks' experiments were slow at times, though they brought great medical discoveries. Overall it was best if no attention was directed at him. It was convenient to be able to pretend he was dead.

Maybe seeing Delia would awaken Binks' consciousness. She could be a reminder of good memories of the past. Perhaps then Binks would become more productive. At the rate he was going, he would succumb to insanity completely and a valuable resource would be lost. "Binks is still alive," Giovanni tried to break the silence with good news. "When this is over, if you want, you can see him. You can visit Luke too and I'm sure Archer, Ariana, Proton and Petrel will be happy to catch up with you." Delia would need a reminder that not everyone's story had a tragic ending if she was going to help deal with Binks. 

"Binks' sister, Laiki, is a Rocket. Luke's son, Comet, is in the team too. He was the one who brought us breakfast at the gym. I'm sure you must have seen the resemblance. You can see all of them when this ends, if you want." Giovanni didn't know why he assumed that Delia would want to stay. Subconsciously he didn't want her to leave again. He kept telling himself to focus on Team Rocket and Delia's possible contribution to it. If he focused on that then the sour thoughts akin to guilt might stop pestering him.

"Of course I want to!" Delia exclaimed. One thing didn't make sense though, "Binks has a sister that's a Rocket too?" What she really wanted to know was why Comet told her that Binks had died. She tried to get Giovanni to elaborate about Binks without revealing that Comet had spoken to her earlier. 

"Yes, her name is Laiki and they're nothing alike," Giovanni replied, "Binks isn't very social so I wouldn't be surprised if people don't think that he's in the team anymore. He communicates with his sister often though." Most of the time, she was the only person whose name he could remember for more than a few minutes.

"I want to see them all when this is over," Delia didn't think Comet had lied about Binks on purpose, maybe someone lied to him and Laiki never clarified. Maybe she was the one who lied about her brother. It made Delia think about what could possibly be happening with Binks.

"You can," more than ever, Giovanni would need business to run smoothly after the mess was cleaned up. It would take a lot of time and effort to recover. A new medical discovery from Binks would be useful. He needed a new medicine to sell, something to appease the business relation with Ackbar. In part Giovanni didn't want to trust Delia with anything concerning Team Rocket, but at the same time he knew he could as long as certain key points were kept quiet. "I've told you a lot of things," his curiosity about Ash surfaced again.

"I appreciate it," Delia knew that meant that Giovanni wanted her to give him some information too. She had promised she would. "Also, thanks for offering to introduce me to everyone later." Delia could see the faded light of hope again and at the same time the alarms went off in her head. "Are you sure you want to do that? I mean, are you sure you want me around. You only wanted me around for information before." Delia stopped herself; she didn't want to get into an argument. She didn't want to feel hurt again.

"Your return was sudden," Giovanni reminded, "isn't it only natural that I would find it suspicious?" He reasoned, "I know now that it wasn't like that. Can't you just forget about that?"

Delia sighed, "I suppose I could forget about it. I can't blame you for suspecting me after the way I left and suddenly returned." She wanted to stop herself from saying things she deemed to be unnecessary, but she couldn't. "It really hurt, I was being stupid, but I thought you actually wanted me back. I waited in Pallet Town for so long. I kept hoping that you never came because it was for the best. At the same time I hoped that you came looking for me." Delia tried to calm herself, "forget about it, that's not what I came to tell you."

Unexpectedly, he hugged her, he was sure he would never forgive her for leaving. He was certain that he was only doing what he thought was best for Team Rocket. That was all that he thought about. She would help make Binks productive. She would help train his pokemon like she used to. She would be perfect in the process of fixing his good image. Let them be seen together, he didn't care if they talked about him as long as they weren't talking about Team Rocket. With that in mind, he would make sure she stayed. He thought that was all there was to it, yet he wasn't entirely convinced. Other thoughts floated in the back of his mind. They were thoughts about having missed her, but he pushed such troublesome musings away.

"Stop it," she tried to sound angry but found she could not. "Let go, I know... I know you don't love me anymore. I believe you used to. I'm really sorry I left like that."

He didn't let her go and she stopped resisting, "it's alright now," she didn't believe him, but he didn't let go. "I want you to stay with me." 

"I will," she shouldn't have agreed, he wasn't asking her to stay for the right reasons and she knew it. She hoped that whatever reasons he may have would change in time if she was patient enough. 

xoxox xox xoxox

While many seemingly individual, yet connected events occurred all over Kanto, Comet was out investigating. He had left shortly after Giovanni returned to the Viridian gym after locking Delia in his mansion. His investigation of the events that occurred in Vermilion City had led him to discover unexpected things. However, he was conscious that what he had found was only the tip of the iceberg. There was much more left to be uncovered.

He knew there was trouble at headquarters. Giovanni had previously told him to continue with his mission even if for some reason communications ceased. Comet followed that order and continued investigating. He thought about gathering information from a group that conducted illegal pokemon tournaments. They took bets for their extreme battles. He suspected that the group was linked to the false Rockets that attacked the donation ceremony at Vermilion City. The group was based on Saffron City. To seek more information, Comet had left Vermillion and gone to Saffron.

Comet's suspicions grew when he saw someone in a Team Rocket uniform talking to one of the tournament managers. He followed them out of their battle area in the basement of an apartment building. The basement could only be entered from an alley. A dark long coat covered Comet's Team Rocket uniform. He followed the suspects like a detective in a movie.

The false Rocket put on a jacket, zipping it up to hide the red R on his black shirt. The other man, involved in the illegal tournament business was wearing normal clothes, nothing about him really stood out. The enemies noticed they were being followed, but continued on their way.

Finally, the enemies reached the Saffron city hall and went inside. There were rumors that the Saffron City mayor was involved with the group conducting the illegal tournaments. The mayor was a very mysterious person who remained solid in office despite the lack of public appearances. That group, though not an official ally, was in good terms with Team Rocket. Maybe it was all an act. 

Comet followed the suspicious men into city hall where they openly faced him. They made it clear they had been aware they were being followed all along. "The lady will see you now, Rocket grunt," the man from the illegal pokemon tournament group spoke bitterly.

Comet knew it had to be a trap, but he couldn't let this opportunity pass him by. He refused to run away, retreating like a coward. He walked past the secretary who paid him no mind. He made his way down a hall with abstract paintings lining the walls. He followed the two men, until they reached an elevator. The false Rocket removed his black hat. His dark green, near-black hair was cut very short. He tossed the hat and the jacket on the couch of a small lobby. The room was empty of people save for them. The door to the mayor's office was in front of them. Comet didn't know what to expect to find behind the polished dark red wood. 

The false Rocket sat down, "you take care of business first. I'll go in with the report later," his cold bronze eyes glared at Comet.

The manager from the illegal tournaments grinned cruelly, "this won't take too long," his bright yellow hair reached down a little beyond his shoulders framing his handsome face. His gray eyes were just as cruel as the other man's gaze.

The door to the mayor's office suddenly opened. The color red predominated even more inside, in much brighter shades than the dark reds of the lobby. The lobby was furnished with maroon couches and plastic potted plants in near-black, red-tinted pots. A man and woman exited the office. They appeared to be around the age of Comet's father and they looked surprised when they saw him. It was as if they recognized him, but Comet was certain he had never met them before.

The man's hair was a pale green to match his eyes, while the woman had lavender hair and stunning red eyes. She whispered, "too young," to which the man nodded and pushed away whatever thoughts had caused him to look surprised. 

The older man glanced at the two younger men, "take care of your business here and continue as planned," he headed towards the elevator with the woman.

Comet wondered what that was about. He soon focused on his current situation when he was called inside the office and told to sit down. The carpet and furniture were red and the office was dimly lit. The false Rocket had stayed out in the lobby and the manager of the illegal tournaments stood beside Comet watching him closely.

"Leave us," the woman behind the desk commanded. She was shrouded in shadows and her face was hard to see.

The blond man opened his mouth to protest. He wanted to point out the danger of leaving her alone with this intruder. Yet he was unable to find his voice in her threatening presence.

"Go now, there's no need to worry about me," as if to emphasize her point, she released a Ninetales from a pokeball. The majestic pokemon stood beside the woman behind the desk. The Ninetales was proud and strong, glaring at the young man sitting in front of her.

The blond man nodded and exited the office, closing the door behind him.

"You're a brave one coming in here like this," the woman grinned. She folded her hands on the desk in front of her a little out of the shadowy spot where she sat. Her nails were long and crimson.

"You're brave to let me in here like this," Comet retorted. He had his Gyarados to count on against that Ninetales. As for his Meowth, Purry, she had run off again. It was as if she wanted to conduct her own investigation. Comet was used to her coming and going on a whim.

"If Giovanni has done nothing, I can only conclude he doesn't know the true identity of the group managing the illegal pokemon tournaments here in Saffron City. To think they even appear to be on good terms with Team Rocket," she laughed and twisted a strand of long hair around her fingers. "I think Giovanni suspects something about that group's present and perhaps about me. Surely he doesn't realize how their past is linked to his. Either way he has no proof." Comet squinted at the darkness with curiosity, but still couldn't see her face. 

"You didn't exist back then. A long time ago, Team Rocket had a rival called the Tempest Gang. By the time you came into the world they were all locked up in jail. Years later they were released. Giovanni doesn't care; he doesn't consider them a threat. There are other groups though. There is a group of traitors in Team Rocket who want the organization to themselves. If they banded together even then they wouldn't be able to take Team Rocket easily. Even so, they could do some damage, especially if Giovanni gets cocky and lowers his guard. He's always been too overconfident for his own good. I fear that one of these days he might get himself killed."

"What are you getting at, lady? What are you planning?" Comet was getting impatient; he knew he had stumbled upon something big. This mysterious lady was the secret mayor of Saffron City. Everyone knew she existed but no one ever saw her. She was obviously a figure of great influence behind the scenes. She seemed to assume he didn't know anything about Tempest. Comet knew about them because of the stories his father told him. 

"I brought the two groups together. The remnants of Tempest who got out of jail started to round up allies. I protected them here in Saffron City and set them up to meet with Neo Rocket, the traitors that want to take Team Rocket for themselves. They are planning to replace Giovanni. Or rather I should say they want to kill Giovanni, then replace him," the lady smiled mischievously. "Ah the things I know, the connections I have. I could be quite troublesome if I wanted," she laughed.

"Are you one of them too? Are you from the original Tempest Gang?" Comet demanded to know.

"Does it really make a difference who I am? What will you do? You're surrounded, I have my darling Nien," she glanced at the Ninetales, "and my men are right outside. Do you think you can take them all on? Oh, but you're a smart boy, aren't you? You know what's good for you. I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse. Neo Rocket and the Tempest Gang are negotiating to become one. I just spoke to the leaders of Tempest and the leader of Neo Rocket will step into this office soon. I'll have to talk him into accepting the name of Tempest when they merge. That was one of the conditions," the lady chuckled. 

She paused, observing Comet's relaxed expression. She appeared to be above being affected by anything, but seemed to be amused by everything. "The world is full of deception. What you think you know may be something else entirely. Sometimes sacrifices must be made and bridges burned, sometimes before they are even built and sometimes after years of existing. Even so, no matter what, it seems some traces can never be fully erased." She was speaking in riddles as if mocking the whole city because they didn't know who she was. "Join us, leave Team Rocket or die. As insurance that you sincerely wish to join us, I expect you to provide me with information."

xoxox xox xoxox

All the secrecy that had been kept for years was about to be broken in the ruins of the old Team Rocket hideout. Delia took a deep breath, still remaining close to Giovanni. "First of all, let me clarify again that Ash is not involved with any of this chaos and neither am I. My timing was only an unfortunate coincidence. For the longest time, for his whole life, I kept Ash wondering about the answers until he seemed to accept the lack of answers. At least that's what I thought. I realized that he really did want to know and I promised to tell him."

Giovanni listened in silence, still puzzled about where Delia was going with all that. 

She continued, "a lot happened after that promise. There was the tournament with all its surprises. Soon after he left the stadium, Ash got engaged to Misty. She's the redhead young woman who was with him that day. With all that was going on, I guess he decided to leave his questions for later. He must have recognized you, I'm sure he did. On the day before the tournament he saw a picture of us together from many years ago. He knows we used to be together, but I'm sure he knows of nothing beyond that. He's not aware of the truth, he would have said something if he was."

"What is that truth?" Giovanni asked; he couldn't hide his need to know any more. 

Delia took a deep breath; her speedy heartbeats were so loud she could hear them. "Ash is the reason why I left all those years ago. It was so he could live a peaceful life. Ash is our son."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 54: Give Me Honor

At the Viridian Rocket base, Pixel read over the list Jessie had given her. "Are these all of them?" Pixel, Jessie, James, Meowth and a pair of Rocket grunts made their way to the weapons supply room. 

"There might be more, these are only the ones we know of, that is the first page," Jessie explained running down the long underground halls. "The second half of the list is something else entirely; I got it in the mail. It was the strangest thing, but strange things had been happening ever since we moved to Saffron City."

"I thought we were just lucky," James commented.

"When have we ever been lucky?" Jessie had been driven to stop believing in luck a long time ago. "It's clear that someone in Saffron is controlling things from the shadows. If I had to take a guess, that person is using this whole thing to weaken Team Rocket. But they can't allow someone else to take control either. The competition must be eliminated. This is just a theory, but I think the answer is in Saffron City."

"Then it's convenient for that mysterious person that Team Rocket wins this time? The media coverage is making things difficult and business will be terribly affected. With Team Rocket left like that, it would be the perfect time for the true enemy to move in," Pixel reasoned.

"The one behind this doesn't want any competition when it comes to taking over Team Rocket," Jessie theorized. "The Neo Rockets probably have no idea they're being manipulated. In fact," Jessie added bitterly, "we're probably dancing to the tune they're playing for us right now, but we don't have a choice. We need to take care of things here, then get the rest of them. Whatever conspiracy is going on, I think it will be revealed soon, but first we need to clean the base."

"Agreed, one thing at a time if we're going to win," Pixel looked left and right down the long underground metal halls. Confirming that the coast was clear, she entered a number on the little keypad on the wall. "When Laiki and I left the weapons storage room I entered a secret number that switched all the access codes. Not everyone knows the second set of access codes, but I'm sure they're figuring that out right now. Let's hurry, take as much as you can, they must have detected this room being opened."

Jessie grinned and picked up a bazooka. She realized it felt heavier and deadlier than any other bazookas she had held. "This is different from the equipment we used in the past. Someone could get killed with this."

Pixel grinned, "welcome to the dark side." In her mind she was an invincible super villain, or at least an almost invincible minion of an almost invincible mafia lord. Ironically she had never actually had the need to injure anyone, at least not yet.

"Watch yourself rookie," despite her warning, Jessie's confidence didn't fail. "Don't worry too much though; you're with experienced agents now."

James kept giving Jessie a knowing grin and he couldn't help it but to comment, "I knew you missed being a Rocket as much as I did, if not more." The remark earned James a smack on the back of the head from Jessie.

"I just hope we get the chance to do something heroic," Meowth's eyes shone with anticipation. "Then the boss will give us a big reward and say, 'for saving Team Rocket and my life I'll hire you again and give you the biggest raise you can imagine. From now on it's going to be only the best for Meowth and his friends."

"This is no time for your fantasies. We have traitors to catch!" Jessie was well armed with a pair of guns on her belt and a bazooka on her back. She carried a lot of extra ammunition as well. "I really hope it doesn't come to this, real Rockets fight with the power of pokemon."

"Then we'll just have to restore Team Rocket to how it should be!" James cheered; he was similarly armed to Jessie, just in case. "Our pokemon are strong, we can do it. By the way, speaking of pokemon, what did you do with the egg Flareon laid before we came? You ran off with it and returned without it. Then you drove over here taking weird shortcuts like a maniac. I was too busy fearing for my life to ask."

"Don't worry about it," Jessie assured, "the egg is with auntie, she'll take care of it."

"I have a question, if someone else gave you the second page of the list and you compiled the first yourselves, how did you do it?" Pixel inquired.

"It's because Neo Rocket offered us to join them, but we refused. They thought we would join in since we weren't in the best terms with the boss before. I think they just wanted to use James to access his family's money and use it for their cause," Jessie explained bitterly. The thought of someone taking advantage of James bothered her. Either way, his parents kept the fortune and were not keen on sharing since he married Jessie.

"Or they could have thought we're awesome and tried to get us to join," James added with a more pleasant tone. "They didn't understand that part of being awesome is being loyal."

"Save any other questions for later, let's focus on the battle now," Jessie urged. "The Neo Rockets were planning to gather in Kanto and this is the main base of the region. The majority of Team Rocket is actually still loyal, but there are enough traitors to make a noticeable difference. I think their ultimate goal is to get rid of the boss to establish their power over Team Rocket. They must assume that the loyal Rockets will change their minds and follow them if they take out the boss." Jessie explained, she was ready to head into battle. The Rocket grunts followed quietly, hoping that they wouldn't regret remaining loyal to Giovanni.

xoxox xox xoxox

Things had taken a complicated turn at Rock On in Pewter City. Yolanda backed away to the wall. Four members of Team Rocket had snuck in and detained her. The blond woman who led them was currently interrogating her. Yolanda didn't know what they were talking about.

"Don't play dumb, I know this place is a secret base for Team Rocket's enemies!" Laiki insisted, aiming her gun at the frightened girl.

"I really don't know what you're talking about," Yolanda cried. "This is a pokemon breeding center. It belongs to my brother. I'm taking care of the pokemon while he's out. He doesn't have any connections with you people or your enemies, I'm sure of it!"

The three Rocket grunts returned to the living room where Laiki was holding Yolanda hostage. "We didn't find anything suspicious at all," one of the grunts informed, "this isn't an enemy base."

"That's weird," Laiki mused with worry, "here I am with an elite squadron," she motioned towards her weapons rather than the grunts, "ready to storm the enemy base and take over with sheer power. Then what do I find? A girl who honestly doesn't seem to know about the situation and no incriminating evidence." 

Laiki gave it some thought, the order she received came from the boss. His cell phone had since been rendered useless. Pixel was sure the geeks on the traitors' side would collapse the communication system eventually and her guess was right. The enemy would rather have no method of spying if it meant risking false information and giving their opponents a chance to slip encoded messages past them.

A thought occurred to Laiki. The password was so that she would know the order was from the boss, even if his voice was not heard. But why didn't he just give her a quick call? Messages were useful when sneaking around quietly. What was making him hide the message? Maybe he was in trouble.

That couldn't be it, if the enemy had Giovanni, then the battle should have been over. "This doesn't make sense, but I have a bad feeling." The three grunts looked at Laiki with puzzlement, 'the boss is still a human being. Even if he seems like so much more to us most of the time. It must have been a mistake,' she mused. 'Giovanni is a stubborn person,' Laiki thought, 'I can't imagine anyone being able to force the password out of him by any means. He could have been tricked or someone could have obtained the code in some other way. Perhaps the boss just sent the wrong information by mistake. Maybe the mistake was mine and my true mission was to investigate and be ready for the worse. The worse case scenario wasn't confirmed as I assumed.' 

Laiki took one last look at Yolanda, who was still frightened. "Sorry about that. Well boys, it seems there was a mistake. The Rock On enemy hide out was nothing but a false alarm. Let's head back to HQ, that's where we're really needed." 

"Wait! What's going on?" Yolanda suddenly demanded to know. She wanted those people gone, but she couldn't stop herself from asking.

"I can't tell you that. If you knew, then I would have a real reason to storm this place," Laiki smiled innocently. "Oh and by the way, Team Rocket doesn't go around attacking people at random. Don't get the wrong impression. You're perfectly safe as long as you don't pick a fight with us, don't hinder our business and don't try to keep a strong pokemon to yourself. We would also appreciate it if you kept this whole misunderstanding a secret. Do it for the sake of everyone's safety, if you know what I mean."

Yolanda nodded slowly; she felt that she had no choice. The Rockets left Rock On without any casualties. Yolanda watched from the window as the seemingly normal car with tinted glass drove away.

xoxox xox xoxox

In the little underground room of the old Team Rocket hideout, Delia remained quiet. She was waiting for Giovanni to say something. She wished there was some light so she could see his expression. "I'm sorry," she cried, speaking hurriedly and breaking the thick silence. "So many things happened and it looked like Team Rocket was getting worse. So many of our friends were hurt and even died. I didn't know for how long that would continue or if it would ever end. I thought the only way Ash could live in peace was if I left. Despite our disagreements, I was prepared to stay if it was just me. I don't regret having Ash, he's our son and I love him so much. He reminds me of you a lot sometimes. You both want to be the best, you're both stubborn, you both like powerful pokemon, you both never give up and so many other things."

"Ash looks a lot like you when he brushes his hair back. His hair is just as stubborn as yours when it comes to staying in place without putting a million things in it. Most of the time he wears a hat. Oh, and you both like chocolate cake, I guess a lot of people do, but yeah, you still like it, right?" Delia stopped herself, she was rambling. It must already be a lot to take in, she didn't want to make the overload worse. "Um... Giovanni... are you mad at me?"

"Yes," he replied after a moment, though he didn't sound angry. He sounded surprised and confused. For once his voice completely lacked his usual mask of neutrality. He told himself this didn't change anything. Ash had existed for years and nothing had changed. The only difference was that he didn't know. He wanted to know just who was Ash beyond what little he knew about him. The need to battle him resurfaced again, much stronger then it had been during the tournament. Giovanni couldn't explain it.

"Alright, that's okay, you can be mad at me. I guess I did kind of cheat you out of a lot of visits by keeping the secret," Delia breathed deeply. "You do understand that I thought it was for the best, don't you? Ash is... well, you should meet him for yourself and see. He doesn't know about you. He knows you as the Viridian gym leader and I'm pretty sure he admires you. He doesn't know anything about your connection to Team Rocket. If you want to tell him, I'll leave that up to you. Please wait until things calm down if you decide to tell him the whole truth and let me prepare him first."

Giovanni closed his eyes in thought; everything was darkness in the little underground room anyway. "I'll get things under control first, then we'll talk." It was a strange overwhelming feeling, too many things were happening at once.

Delia breathed in relief, "I'll help out in any way I can. Please count me as an ally," she paused. She felt that Giovanni would probably want to have some time to let things sink in before more questions started to surface. "Should we wait here until tomorrow?"

"No, that's not necessary," Giovanni had too much to think about as it was. He made himself focus on his problems with Team Rocket; there would be time for everything else later. Still, thoughts of Delia kept resurfacing. Why would she still want to help? What about Ash? He couldn't deny he wanted to know more. "We've waited long enough. Let's walk the rest of the way to Cerulean City. We can get communication and transportation there."

Quietly and with a heavy atmosphere, Giovanni, Delia and Persian made their way out of the little underground room. They walked in silence, which made Delia feel uncomfortable. She thought about what to say, but was interrupted by an explosion near by. 

A familiar voice called out, "Pikachu, no!"

"That was Ash!" Delia started running towards a source of light up ahead, where the voice had come from.

The light was a fire on Ash's little indigo car, "I'm on it!" Misty called out her Starmie. "Water gun, put out that fire!" The solution was effective as Starmie's water successfully extinguished the flames in the car. 

"Misty," Ash frowned, "you drowned the engine."

"It's better than letting the fire reach the fuel tank and the whole car exploding. Besides, there's not much left of the engine anyway," Misty waved away the smoke coming from the little car. It had been rendered useless.

"My poor car, it was my first car, it was my only car. It took me such a long time to save up for it and now it's gone," Ash gave his dear car a moment of silence.

"Pikapi," Pikachu looked at Ash with sadness and guilt.

Ash hugged the little yellow electric pokemon, "it's alright Pikachu, it's not your fault. I was the one who told you to keep recharging the battery instead of changing it like I should have."

Delia and Giovanni arrived and witness the scene. It reminded Giovanni of something that happened before he met Delia. At the time, Aayla had just recently joined Team Rocket.

That night long ago, Giovanni, Luke, Leah, Aayla and Binks were all in Giovanni's car, which he intended to replace soon. "Dude Giovanni, like tell me again like why you're getting rid of this car. I like still don't totally get it, you know?" Luke happened to like the car. It was brown and he thought it looked like a giant chocolate bar.

"Because it won't last much longer," Giovanni tried to explain it again, "the battery keeps giving out and the newbie has to recharge it with Electabuzz."

"When will I have a name other then newbie?" Aayla grumbled from the back of the car. She was sandwiched uncomfortably between Leah and Binks. She sometimes forgot Leah was there until she tried to move and bumped into her. As for Binks, she elbowed him on occasion, simply because she felt like it.

"When you earn it," Giovanni answered, "it doesn't look like Electabuzz will last too long either. Lately there have been less pokemon around. There's a rumor that some kind of epidemic is starting. It's only a rumor but it could be true."

"But dude, can't you like change the battery? I'll like miss this car, you know?" Luke insisted upon his argument that the car should be kept.

"You can have it after I get a new one," Giovanni offered, knowing very well that Luke would love the idea.

"Thanks dude! You're like totally awesome, man!" Luke's cheering was interrupted when the engine failed and the car shut down.

"I think it's more than the battery that's wrong with it," Giovanni theorized. He wasn't in the mood to tinker with the car. He felt like getting a new car, maybe he could find an orange one to steal, though the color wasn't too common. He tried to turn the car back on, but it didn't work.

"Time for another recharge?" Aayla didn't even wait for an answer before shoving Binks aside and exiting the car. She opened it up, frowning at the smoke that came from the engine. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"It worked fine before, just give it a quick recharge," Giovanni needed to get to Pewter City. Once he was there he would have a new car and the old one would be Luke's problem.

"If you say so," Aayla sent out Electabuzz. The large yellow pokemon looked as if he had no energy left. It was a side effect of the illegal power-ups he had been given before. Ever since Aayla joined Team Rocket she stopped giving Electabuzz any of those substances. The gang leader, Giovanni, forbade it. He claimed it was more of a liability than a help in the long run. Electabuzz was still suffering from the symptoms of withdrawal. "Electabuzz, give the battery another electric charge."

With a lot of effort, the weakened Electabuzz obeyed. The electricity wasn't much, but the car's battery had all the mistreatment it could take. The result was a chain reaction that set the engine aflame.

"My car!" Luke cried out at the top of his lungs. He jumped out of the front passenger seat and hurried to put out the fire. It was technically still Giovanni's car, but it was close enough to becoming his. "Like put out the fire Poliwag, water gun, man!" The car that Luke affectionately referred to as a giant chocolate bar met a grim fate that night. 

Years later, Ash's car suffered a similar tragedy. "Ash!" Delia called out to her son as she, Giovanni and Persian approached.

"Mom!" Ash rushed to her and hugged her, noticing Giovanni's presence as well. "The Viridian gym leader is here too!" He observed them as well as he could in the light of the full moon and stars. "Were you two in a battle, did Team Rocket attack you? I've heard the accusations, but I don't believe a word of them. Team Rocket attacked you, didn't they?"

Delia was at a loss for words, "something like that?" She looked at Giovanni, hoping that he would have some kind of believable excuse. Their bruised appearance was in truth the result of being kidnapped and falling off a cliff respectively.

Giovanni had been looking at Ash curiously. Ash was more focused on his mother and didn't really notice. Giovanni snapped into attention upon hearing Delia's cue for him to come up with an excuse. "I think they might have only been pretending to be Team Rocket. There have been rumors about a battle between gangs. Something about Team Rocket's rivals trying to get the police to go after the Rockets."

Ash gave this new possibility some thought as did Misty. "That makes a lot of sense," she commented.

"Yeah," Ash agreed, "what happened at Vermilion City, you've heard about it, right? It's not Team Rocket's usual style. There was nothing to gain for them. Then the really bad gang isn't Team Rocket, it's their rivals. The police will figure it out eventually if they stop Team Rocket and the crimes don't stop, but a lot of things could happen before then."

Giovanni found that Ash's logic was easier to guide than he expected. Maybe keeping the secret of Team Rocket from him to avoid further complications would not be difficult after all. Besides, he was telling the truth about Team Rocket and their enemies. "It's more serious than that. Team Rocket and their enemies cancel each other out, so to speak. If one was left alone, it could be very dangerous," he bent the truth, Giovanni didn't think any other gang was strong enough to truly stand up against Team Rocket.

Misty gasped as the gym leader's theory became clear to her, "that means that the police is being used. If they spend all their resources taking out Team Rocket, they'll be left exposed for when that other gang openly emerges."

"This is just a theory," Giovanni voiced with fake concern, "but if it's true, it may happen that way."

"That's how it seems to be, the gangs keep each other at bay. The police would have to stop them all at once to get anywhere and that would be next to impossible. It's dangerous to allow the balance of power to shift too suddenly," Delia added, she always knew a lot more than she let on. She was secretive in many ways and most people tended to assume she knew little.

"Wow, I guess I never thought about it that way," Ash was surprised at his mother's conclusion. He understood the logic in it. "Then that other gang must be stopped. Team Rocket wasn't so bad by comparison, so the other group should be stopped first. Anyway, I'm just glad you're both safe. We'll figure out the rest as we go along, right Misty?"

Misty thought she shouldn't encourage Ash's tendency to rush in without a plan too much, "yeah, but we need to be careful."

Ash nodded in agreement and looked at Giovanni. The gym leader couldn't help it but to wonder if Ash knew who he was. It was soon proven he didn't, "can we still have our pokemon battle?"

"Is that all you think about?" Misty face palmed.

"Of course we can battle," hearing Giovanni's reply, Delia decided it was good. Maybe a pokemon battle was just what they needed to understand each other in their own way, as long as it remained friendly. "Not here and now," Giovanni clarified.

"Right," Delia continued, "and since we're all here together talking I might as well formally introduce everyone," she tried to make it sound as natural as she could, with Giovanni putting up a very good act despite his curiosity. It reminded her of the past, when he put up an act for Professor Oak. Things were different and at the same time similar.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. Secura doesn't actually mean 'to heal', but 'se cura' means 'it heals' in Spanish so it's close enough. The group that bets on pokemon battles was mentioned on Diamond 48.


	15. Part 15

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 55: Give Me Comrades

Things seemed to be running as smoothly as possible within the circumstances for Delia, Giovanni, Ash and Misty. Ash called Brock to let him know he found his mother and she was alright. He noticed that when he pressed the button to end the call at Vermilion, he held it down for a little too long and turned his cell phone off. Unknown to Ash, Brock had tried to call him again, but couldn't get through.

"Ash! Are you alright? I've been trying to call you this whole time," Brock answered his cell phone with a worried tone as soon as he saw Ash's name on the screen.

"We're fine; I'm calling you to let you know. I ran into mom and Giovanni, they're both safe. Team Rocket, or rather, Team Rocket's rivals pretending to be Team Rocket, attacked them. They got away, so don't worry. Actually, I haven't heard the whole story yet, I just wanted to give you a call first. Misty's here with us too and our pokemon of course. My car will probably never run again. I guess I pushed my luck too far having Pikachu recharge the battery," Ash explained hurriedly. He was about to continue venting about his car, he really needed it.

Brock interrupted, "you're all alright? Giovanni is there too?" He reminded himself that he was giving Giovanni the benefit of the doubt. Delia and Ash seemed to trust him. The attack Ash mentioned could be used to explain Delia's state when she arrived. Who knows what happened and how many times they went after her. Her little black cell phone with the red R was still present in Brock's mind. He decided to disregard it as an unimportant detail. It was just a cell phone, it didn't mean anything. Maybe she just couldn't find one with her own initial. A red R usually meant Team Rocket, but there could be exceptions.

"Yeah, we're fine," Ash assured, Brock still sounded very alarmed.

"What was that about someone pretending to be Team Rocket?" Brock spoke as if it was urgent. "do you know what's going on?" He explained what had happened to him, "I was worried, so I went to find Delia. I thought she might be in Viridian City. I couldn't find her and I couldn't contact you. Yolanda was taking care of Rock On while I was in Viridian. She called me to say Team Rocket was there. Apparently they thought Rock On was an enemy base and searched the place. They held her hostage and asked her a lot of things she didn't understand. When they realized it was all a mistake, they left. They didn't even steal anything!"

Ash's face was visibly surprised at Brock's revelation. The expression was not missed by Delia, Giovanni and Misty, though they couldn't hear Brock. "It sounds like there really is a war between gangs. Some other group is pretending to be Team Rocket so the police will go after the real Team Rocket. Then they can take over when Team Rocket and the police are left weakened by their battle. Team Rocket must be really serious about stopping their rivals."

"So this is their battle... I thought what happened at Vermilion City was too much for Team Rocket. I didn't know about it at first. Later I heard about the attack when they aired the news bulletin again." Brock was feeling frustrated with how innocent people were being caught in the battle between Team Rocket and their rivals. "I'm going to stay here just in case they come back. Yolanda doesn't want to call the police..."

"Why not?" Ash asked when Brock went silent in doubt. "You should call the police and tell them what happened." From the corner of his eyes, Ash caught Giovanni shaking his head. Ash thought about what they had discussed concerning the balance of power, "on second thought, you shouldn't call the police right now. Let the two gangs fight each other. Then the police will arrest them when they're weak."

"If you say so," Brock mused over Ash's words, "alright, I won't call the police. I guess there's no choice but to give the situation some time and stay alert." Brock was still uneasy, but he decided to trust Ash.

"Yeah, take care of your siblings. I think we'll spend the night at Misty's place," Cerulean City was the closest to them. Ash glanced at Misty, who nodded in approval. "I'll call you again tomorrow." Since the engine of Ash's car would never run again, they would walk the rest of the way to Cerulean City. 

"Alright, be careful," Brock sounded exhausted with stress.

Giovanni was caught in the situation. He didn't want to blow his cover so soon. He was heading to Cerulean City anyway; he had to find a working phone that he could use in private. He would decide if he could stay there until the next day after he communicated with his agents. He didn't have a solid plan. It looked like he would have to improvise as he used to do long ago.

After a long walk, Ash, Misty, Delia and Giovanni made it to the Cerulean City gym. The gym was closed, with all its lights off in the quiet of the night. Misty fished for her keys in her bag. She pulled them out by the Horsea keychain. "It looks like we have the place to ourselves," Misty announced as she led the group inside. She wasn't really expecting her sisters to have returned. "What a day..."

"I'm hungry," Ash announced. When something exciting or worrying happened, it always made him hungry in the end. 

Delia and Misty laughed; at least Ash was being himself. They took it as a good sign. Ash was a ray of familiarity in the uncertainty that lay ahead. "I have been meaning to ask for a cake recipe," Misty joked.

"Then lets do it," Delia didn't care if it was late at night. She didn't care she had realized that she needed to learn more recipes before she could truly call herself a chef. Cooking still helped her relax and she didn't feel like going to sleep. Besides, if she was going to become a more skilled cook, the sooner she started practicing, the better.

"Really? Right now?" Misty was taken by surprise, especially when Delia nodded, confirming that it wasn't a joke.

"That's a great idea!" Ash's mouth began to water at the thought.

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded in agreement while Giovanni and Persian watched the scene quietly.

"We might not have all the ingredients," Delia theorized looking thoughtful, "isn't there a little convenience store near here that's open twenty-four seven?"

"Yes, there is, they have a lot of things. Let's go," the distraction was welcomed by Misty. She felt she needed to focus her mind on something simple and cheerful, such as learning a new recipe. She wanted to clear her head of the day's stress.

Giovanni caught on then, thinking that he should have caught on sooner. Delia was giving him the perfect chance to establish communication with headquarters without interruptions. "Do you mind if I use the phone? My cell phone isn't working for some reason."

"No problem, it's right over here," Misty led him to where the video phone was, in a corner of the living room. "They must be worried about you in Viridian City," the gym leader obviously held an important position there. Perhaps he was more important to the city than an average gym leader would be.

"Thanks, I should at least let them know we're alright," Giovanni continued his nice act perfectly. He had practiced it many times in the public eye. He wondered how well he would be able to act after the truth about Ash fully sunk in. Several times he had to make himself stop staring, noticing familiarities he didn't know how he missed before. Fortunately, Ash and Misty were too tired to notice.

The growling of Ash's stomach was perfectly timed to Delia's plan, "we should get the ingredients. Ash, come help us carry the bags." With a casual excuse, Delia led the young couple and Pikachu outside. They departed towards the little convenience store near the gym. Giovanni was left alone with Persian to go about his business in private. 

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Viridian Rocket headquarters below the gym, the hunt for traitors continued. "What is the meaning of this?" Two traitorous Rockets found themselves surrounded in the main computer room of the base.

The two men contrasted greatly with each other, one was tall and muscular. The other's physique resembled Binks, thin and fragile. The thin one had short light hair, nearly white, despite being no older than his mid twenties. He had big glasses and a white lab coat over his black Team Rocket uniform. The coat had a small red R on a pocket carrying an assortment of pens. "You're in trouble; we're higher ranked than all of you!" His threat was ineffective due to his frightened shaking. His blue-gray eyes kept looking for an escape route but found none.

The tall man glared, seemingly unfazed by the heavily armed group standing before him. "So Giovanni's grunts are fighting back?" That man also wore a Team Rocket uniform, the shirt was sleeveless revealing his muscular arms. He had dark skin, short curly black hair and brown eyes. "You don't happen to know where Giovanni is, do you?" In order to take control of Team Rocket, Neo Rocket grouped in Kanto, Team Rocket's main base of operations. 

Their plan had been to broadcast Giovanni's defeat and subsequent death on TV. They would set the stage for that by forcing him to offer a press conference. The defeat of the leader would put Neo Rocket on top, or so they thought. They expected to gain the support of the rest of Team Rocket with fear. To back them up they had New Tempest. The reestablished gang was Team Rocket's rival in the past. Neo Rocket didn't care for world domination or secrecy. They only wanted power and riches.

Neo Rocket was planning to unite with New Tempest under the name of Tempest. The name of their gang wasn't really important to Neo Rocket anyway. The tall man chuckled cruelly despite the situation he and his cowering ally were in. "Where is he hiding? Where did Giovanni run off to? That coward!"

Jessie and James were offended, their expressions furious. James was just as angry as Jessie was, but she had a special talent for looking absolutely terrifying when she was enraged. Before they could say anything, Meowth jumped forward. He wildly attacked the man who had dared to insult Giovanni, trying to tare him apart with his claws.

The man pushed Meowth off. Meowth went on the attack again, relentlessly scratching until the man threw him against the wall harshly. "Meowth can't take on this guy alone," Jessie threw out a pokeball and Flareon appeared from its red beam. Jessie knew that she was eager to get some action as soon as possible after having laid her egg.

"If you're not going to shoot I'll have to take those weapons away from you," the tall man's shirt had been ripped to shreds and he had many cuts in his upper body. He jumped to take Jessie's weapons, but Flareon let out a massive fire blast without even waiting for Jessie's command. Badly burnt, the man stumbled back. His geeky comrade squealed in a high pitched fearful voice.

Pixel glared at the weak geek, "you give a bad name to geeks everywhere," she huffed angrily, "we're not all wimps!"

The muscular man struggled to fight back despite the injured state he was in. He was knocked back again by Flareon's fire. The sound of approaching foot steps was heard announcing the arrival of more traitorous Rockets. Their appearance was that of typical grunts, with the standard Team Rocket uniforms. Their faces were shrouded in shadows by their black hats. "Get down!" James called out. He pushed Pixel to one side and dived to the other, dragging Jessie down along with him. A missile zoomed over them, exploding when it hit the tall man.

The traitorous grunts at the door cursed loudly. They meant to take out the loyal Rockets, but instead the missile hit one of their own. The skinny geek squeaked in fear again and began to cry.

"You're really asking for it! Flareon fire blast that bazooka!" Jessie commanded. Flareon let out a battle cry, shooting a powerful flame from her mouth. The blast of fire collided with the bazooka held by the traitorous Rocket grunts, causing it to explode.

"Go Wheezing; hold them with your sludge attack!" James scrambled to his feet along with Jessie and sent out his pokemon. Wheezing's attack was effective in its purpose. It detained the injured traitorous grunts in a sticky mess at the door. The two loyal grunts that accompanied Jessie, James and Pixel watched in awe.

"Shut up already!" Pixel lost her patience and kicked the crying geek on the ribs. The action only caused him to wail louder. "That's it, go Peachy, thunderbolt this idiot into silence!" The Pikachu emerged from her pokeball and followed the command. She electrocuted the thin man into fainting. 

"You have a Pikachu, very convenient," James commented. He and Jessie had developed a strong perception of Pikachu in general thanks to Ash's Pikachu.

"Indeed," Jessie agreed, "Meowth, get up, we need to make sure these guys can't cause any more trouble and-" Jessie paused, watching as the two loyal Rocket grunts made themselves useful. 

The loyal Rocket grunts handcuffed the traitors' hands and feet to prevent them from causing trouble should they escape the sludge. "Don't forget about us," one of the grunts spoke.

"We can detain the traitors here, just keep bringing them over," the other grunt offered.

"That's a good idea," Pixel agreed, "and watch my back while you're at it. I need to figure out what they were doing to the system." Pixel was already sitting in front of the large screen of the main computer. There were also two other screens left and right of her. There was a large keyboard in front of her. It included not only the alphabet, numbers and the usual keys a computer would have, but also abundant extra keys. The additional keys were labeled with different symbols, pictures and abbreviations. 

"It looks like they were trying to crack the code to launch the big missiles," Pixel announced as she examined the system. "Fortunately, they didn't have enough time to crack it. Not even the top ranked Rocket geeks know how to crack this program. It was made by one of the Rocket executives, or so I heard. Only the top executives and the boss know the password." 

"The bad news is that the general system suffered some extensive damage," Pixel informed. "Especially the communications software and satellite control programs. The system will have to be reformatted to be on the safe side. This is well beyond my current level, but I guess I'll have to try. By the way, is your Meowth alright?"

Meowth had gotten back on his feet, but looked dizzy, "I'm fine, thanks for asking. It's just that all that stuff on the screen is making me dizzy."

"I don't consider myself to be an expert yet, but I think I can at least make a bit of a difference for now. I can't really fix it, but I can try to reduce the damage. I'll work on it, unless I should join the frontlines again?" Pixel looked at Jessie, the self appointed leader of their squad.

"Make sure they're not planning to launch any more missiles. Then see if you can reestablish at least some basic communication," Jessie decided. "We need to detain the traitors somewhere. Your pokemon and those two," she pointed at the two loyal grunts, "can stay here and guard the prisoners while you work. James, our pokemon and I are tough enough to finish the cleanup ourselves."

"Alright, Peachy, Pyro," Pixel let her Charmander out of his pokeball as well. "Guard the prisoners! You two," she looked at the grunts, "try to keep the big guy that got hurt alive; alive and tied up that is. We might get some info out of them later." She then addressed Jessie, James and Meowth, "good luck!" 

Meowth reminded Pixel a little of Purry, except Purry wouldn't have allowed her opponents to push her away. She would have aimed for the throat. Purry was also a lot tougher and didn't need much provocation to be violent. On second thought, maybe all that they really had in common was their species. Pixel hoped that wherever Purry was, she was alright, the same for Comet and Laiki.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Cerulean gym, Giovanni received an unexpected visitor. "Boss," the voice came accompanied by a tapping sound on the living room window. Giovanni stepped away from the video phone for a moment and opened it to find Comet. "I knew it was you I saw. I couldn't contact anyone, I'm glad you're alright."

"What are you doing here and what's the meaning of that?" Giovanni pointed at the green T on Comet's black shirt. The uniform was very similar to Team Rocket's uniform. The most noticeable difference was that the red R was replaced with a green T.

"The enemies are actually two groups. One group is made from people who used to be from the Tempest Gang. The others are traitors that want Team Rocket for themselves, the Neo Rockets. They intend to unite under the name of Tempest. I'm only pretending to join them so I can spy on them," Comet explained. "There is someone who seems to be partially controlling them, the Saffron City mayor. It looks like she's more of a mediator then their boss. I get the impression that the mysterious mayor has her own agenda. Sorry, I couldn't find out her identity, it seems no one knows who she is, even in Saffron City."

"Tempest returned after all these years," Giovanni had not heard that name in a long time. What bothered him the most were the traitors. Team Rocket was a big organization and a few traitors would appear from time to time. He hated that they organized themselves well enough to cause trouble this time. "Those traitors are worse than Tempest, they'll pay for this," Giovanni was angry and frustrated with the situation. He was sick of waiting to do things without bringing more unnecessary attention to Team Rocket. It was time to show them his power; he would solve the problem himself.

"I just got to Cerulean City on a mission for Tempest. I'm still in the process of proving my loyalty. I just hope they don't realize that the information I gave them about Team Rocket were lies. We're going to break into the Pokemon Center and steal the pokemon there. Some Neo Rockets will be there too, not all the uniforms have been changed to Tempest yet," Comet explained. "I'm sure you know where I'm going with this."

"This is an opportunity for me to clear my name," Giovanni caught on right away. "With all the false accusations going around, it's only natural that I would want to conduct my own investigation. It is something the good gym leader of Viridian City would do. I tracked down the villains to this city and happened to be near the Pokemon Center when they broke in. Most of them will be captured, save for a few that will manage to escape," Comet would be among them. "Make sure that your presence is known so that it doesn't look suspicious when I conveniently arrive."

"You can count on me! I guess this means we'll have to battle. We're planning to break into the Pokemon Center at midnight," Comet always got excited when he thought about pokemon battles. He would make sure to put up a fight, but at the same time make Tempest look bad.

"I'll be there," Giovanni assured, he really needed to let some stress out in a pokemon battle. "For now, return to your Tempest duties before they find you."

"Yes, sir!" Comet hopped out the window again and disappeared into the night.

Outside, Purry was waiting for Comet. She had caught up to him as he was leaving Saffron City. Comet departed towards Cerulean City alone with Purry in his little brown car. Luke had given it to him as a tribute to the original chocolate bar Giovanni used to have. "I'll need your help, Purry. I have an idea."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 56: Give me Satisfaction

The main computer system at the Viridian Rocket headquarters detected an incoming call. It managed to pass through the system with the limited glitch filled functions that Pixel was able to partially restore. Curious about it, she put it through, even if it could be a transmission from the enemy. If it was, she would pretend she was on their side and get information. To her surprise the video call was from Giovanni, "boss!"

Giovanni had seen this girl before, Pixel or something like that. She was a low ranked agent a step above a grunt. "What's happening at headquarters, why are you answering this call?"

"I'm not sure who you were trying to contact, but the communications system collapsed. Neo Rocket, the traitors, caused it. I was trying to restore it. Some other agents and I are cleaning up HQ, catching the traitors and stuff." Pixel wasn't sure how Giovanni would take the news about Jessie and James. She didn't feel good about having to be the one to give him the report about that particular detail. 

Giovanni had many things to ask. Before he could, someone else appeared on the screen behind Pixel. The girl turned around to look at the man who had arrived. "I'll take it from here, rookie."

"Archer," Giovanni recognized the new arrival.

Pixel blinked and looked back and forth between Giovanni and Archer before finally moving out of the way to stand behind Archer. 

Archer opened a window of code on the screen beside the one containing Giovanni's video call and began to fix things in the system. "I'll have the communications system up and running soon. I'll come up with some better security for the future. I hope you don't mind, but after the communications system collapsed, the four of us decided to move on our own," Archer was referring to Ariana, Proton, Petrel and himself. "I just arrived at the Viridian headquarters. Before you say it, don't worry, the other regions are safe. We're not neglecting our duties by coming to Kanto."

More people entered the Viridian control room. It was a group of Rocket grunts led by Ariana and Petrel. "We secured the detention facilities. We can move the prisoners there now, get to it!" The grunts got to work while Ariana noticed just who was on the screen. "Don't try to do everything on your own so much, you can count on us." Without waiting for Giovanni's reply, Ariana left along with the grunts and Petrel.

"I should go with them, right?" Pixel looked around, unsure of what to do.

"You were trying to fix things, weren't you?" Archer took his own miniature lucky seven computer and handed it to Pixel. It had many programs that were custom made and not found anywhere else. "Plug it in and follow my lead so we can fix this faster."

"Yes, sir!" Pixel jumped at the opportunity to do something high tech with someone so high ranked.

"If something goes wrong in the other regions," Giovanni didn't have to finish for the message to get through.

"I know, I know, don't worry. The enemies are not many in comparison to the number of loyal members. They gathered in Kanto to take you out, the other regions are fine," Archer insisted. "Watch your back, the enemy might get desperate and attack you. It's clear they want you dead. Proton went to Saffron City to investigate who's behind this. He got a lead from Miyamoto's daughter when we got here."

"She was fired a long time ago!" That was the last thing Giovanni needed, help from someone he fired.

Archer sighed and paused his rapid typing to massage his temples for a moment. He guessed it would be a headache to deal with this issue and he was right. Giovanni was a great leader ninety-nine percent of the time. When he got especially stubborn, prideful or reckless, he was not easy to deal with. Archer resumed his typing as he spoke, "Giovanni, please be reasonable. The information from Miyamoto's daughter is the best clue we have right now. Her partner is here as well. They're helping clean up headquarters. I'm not fully aware of what's going on, but we're going to find out. We'll be careful," Archer paused, sending something to Pixel, "debug this code for me, rookie, you should be able to catch most of the bugs by logic." 

"Yes, sir!" Pixel chirped and started reading through the code. She was looking for endless loops, missing variables and contradictory conditions, running try catch scripts.

xoxox xox xoxox

"We're back!" Delia cheerfully and loudly announced as she entered the Cerulean gym with Misty, Ash and Pikachu. Albeit she tried to take her time at the store, Ash kept complaining. He wanted to go back so that the cake would be ready soon and he could eat it.

In the living room, Giovanni finished the call quickly, "we'll talk later. You and the others better not let anything slip out of place in your regions. I'll take care of the enemy myself. Don't call me back at this number."

"What are you going to-" Archer's question was cut off as the call was ended.

xoxox xox xoxox

The loud sound of a gunshot echoed in the underground Rocket base at Viridian. The bullet passed between Jessie and James. "My hair!" Jessie screamed as she saw a few strands of red land at her feet. Fortunately, Flareon's flame thrower melted the gun in the traitor's hand before he could shoot again.

Another traitor tried to sneak up on Jessie and James from behind. Her gun met the same fate as her partner's thanks to Growlie. The pokemon was still recovering, but would never accept being left out of the fight. "Well done Growlie! Wheezing, sludge!"

At the same time Jessie commanded, "Arbok, bind!" The strategy was effective. Flareon and Growlie would take care of the weapons. Then Arbok and Wheezing would restrain the traitors until they could be handcuffed and taken away. Laiki had returned to headquarters along with the three grunts that went to Rock On with her. They joined the traitor hunt and were investigating another area of the large underground headquarters.

Further ahead there was a fork in the underground metal corridors. It went in three different directions. Jessie and James came from one side, while Ariana and Petrel appeared from the other. From the third hallway, Butch and Cassidy ran towards Jessie and James. They couldn't see Ariana and Petrel from their angle. "What's going on here? We returned to HQ to find that it's a war zone! Weren't you fired? Is this your doing?" Cassidy accused Jessie.

"Cassidy!" Jessie growled the name in a poisonous voice.

"And Batch," James knew there was a possibility that they would run into those two. He was hoping they didn't.

"It's Butch!" The green haired man corrected in indignation. No one ever seemed to get his name right.

"Cassidy, Botch," Ariana came into view at the point where the three underground hallways met. Butch considered pointing out that was not his name, but Ariana was very high ranked so he remained silent. "Since you're here, make yourselves useful hunting down the traitors. Here's a copy of the list of suspects." Ariana handed Cassidy a paper.

"Yes ma'am, but what about them?" Cassidy glared at Jessie. She was looking forward to hearing the Rocket executive sentence them to a harsh punishment.

"They are on our side and have worked quite well in the mission to secure headquarters," Ariana's words left Cassidy in frozen shock. Butch kept looking back and forth between Cassidy, Ariana, Jessie and James. He was overwhelmed by confusion.

"Meowth, that's right!" Meowth cheered making his presence known, with a look of satisfaction. Jessie had the biggest grin out of all of them.

"You know what Gio will say," Petrel reminded Ariana quietly.

"Let's give them a little reward for their loyalty. I'll leave Giovanni to Arch. Maybe he can talk him into taking them back. Keep an eye on the hunt; I'm going to see how Arch is doing," Ariana announced. She hurried down the metal hall, her footsteps echoing lightly.

xoxox xox xoxox

Later, Ash was in the Cerulean gym's kitchen along with Giovanni, Delia and Misty. "Then the real bad guys, Tempest, are going to attack the Cerulean Pokemon Center at midnight?" Ash summarized for confirmation. Misty was mixing some cake batter while Delia measured ingredients and added them to a bowl. 

"If my sources are correct; I don't want to jump to any conclusions. With all those false accusations I had to investigate and try to clear my name," Giovanni explained. 

Ash was too excited to question Giovanni's theory. Ash didn't even ask about his sources, he had time to call for an update while they were gone. Misty was curious about that detail, but the safety of the pokemon was more important. Maybe Giovanni had hired a detective or something. At least Ash was distracted enough so that he stopped eating the chocolate chips for a few minutes. Otherwise they might run out before they could be added to the cake.

"Yes, that makes sense," Ash reached for the open bag of chocolate chips once again. He found it wasn't on the counter anymore. 

On the floor, Pikachu and Persian were having a tug of war with the bag. It was torn in half with chocolate chips falling all over the floor. Persian hissed in indignation and jumped on Giovanni's lap. He demanded attention to be consoled for the loss of the chocolate chips. He was not eating anything from the floor. Pikachu shrugged and began to gather the chocolate chips in a piece of the plastic bag. Persian didn't want them anymore so he had them all to himself.

Ash reached for the other bag of chocolate chips that was yet to be opened. Delia took it away and gave him a bowl full of batter to mix. "Don't eat it, you have to wait until it's baked," she warned. She wasn't sure where Giovanni was going with his sudden revelation that the Cerulean Pokemon Center was suspected to be in danger. She didn't think it was anything particularly bad, so she didn't try to stop his plans.

"Since it's not certain, there's no need to cause a commotion. Besides, if they see the police, they might run away," Giovanni reasoned, leading the logic exactly as he wanted.

Ash nodded in agreement, "that's why we have to catch them in the act, right?" He assumed Giovanni intended to go to the Pokemon Center and was asking him to come along by revealing this information.

"Exactly," it was risky to take anyone along with him. Yet having extra witnesses on his side would also be beneficial. "I'm planning to have a look around the area when it's close to midnight. I don't want to cause any trouble if this suspicion turns out to be wrong."

"Okay, then we'll have a look around. If nothing happens, it's alright, but if it does, we'll stop them!" Ash cheered.

Delia decided not to worry about the situation too much. "You'll be like vigilantes?" She grinned, reminding Giovanni of her past wish.

"Yes, exactly!" Ash loved the idea, "you'll come too, right Misty?"

Misty agreed with determination, "count me in! We can't let them steal the pokemon."

"I'll be going as well," Delia happily announced, even if it was part of some act or plan Giovanni had, she still enjoyed the idea. She liked pretending that Giovanni and Ash were righteous vigilantes like in her fantasies from long ago. Even if the dream only lasted a little while, she would grant herself that much.

"But mom, you don't have any pokemon with you," Ash pointed out.

"I know, Mimey is back home. He knows how to look after himself, so he'll be fine. There's plenty of food left in the refrigerator that only needs to be put in the microwave and he makes great sandwiches. I bet he's keeping the house very clean. He must have finished the laundry a long time ago," Delia mused aloud. 

This came as no surprise for Ash and Misty, but Giovanni had to ask, "who is Mimey?"

"My Mr. Mime," Delia replied with a smile. "I should introduce him to you, Persian and your other pokemon later."

"Your Mr. Mime does chores?" Not even Giovanni had thought about having pokemon servants. He thought they wouldn't be able to do the chores properly.

"Oh yes, he's very helpful and he always looks like he's having fun," Delia fell into the conversation naturally. She was pleased that they could talk about something casual. "Mimey helps with the dishes, the laundry, cleaning the house, watering the garden and works as a waiter at my little restaurant." The cake batters were finished and placed into round molds. One of the batters was dark, thick and chocolaty. Another was paler than the first and had chocolate dots. The last was less in a mount, only a thin disk in a yellow color.

"You were always good at getting pokemon to do what you wanted," Giovanni recalled, he gave her two pokeballs. "If you insist on coming along, you'll need some pokemon. You should take Cloyster and Kingler back." The only pokemon he was carrying were his original team. He didn't have any of his newer pokemon on hand, but the ones he had would have to be enough. 

Delia smiled, holding the two pokeballs containing her pokemon from long ago. "Just like before," she whispered.

It was ironic; they would be facing Tempest, their enemies of the past. They would probably only find new members in that night's mission, but it was still Tempest. The Cerulean City Pokemon Center was also the place where they first met. Giovanni discreetly glanced at Ash and Misty. It was enough to remind Delia that they had an audience and she shouldn't reveal too much.

Delia reacted by changing the subject and explaining for how long the cake batters had to be left in the oven. Not even the thought of food distracted Ash enough to stop him from asking Giovanni, "what do you mean take Cloyster and Kingler back?"

Giovanni didn't mean to let that slip, he lowered his guard and it just happened. He didn't realize until that moment that his stress had been reduced, despite the circumstances. Yet he still had a feeling of numb confusion. It was obvious that Archer and the others wanted to be trusted to handle the situation at Viridian City. He would give them that and take care of his own mission in Cerulean City. Then he would put an end to the situation one way or another. 

Giovanni focused on Ash's question. The fact that he was his son was something Giovanni had been trying not to think about too much, but couldn't help it but to think about it constantly. It was decided that, if things went as planned, Ash would not know the whole truth until after Team Rocket's business was settled. Giovanni determined that what was said was only a small harmless fact after all. "Cloyster and Kingler were originally Delia's pokemon. She had them since they were Shellder and Krabby. They evolved with Delia as their trainer. After I became the Viridian gym leader, she gave them to me," Giovanni explained.

"Really?" Ash was surprised, as was Misty. "Mom, why didn't you tell me you trained a gym leader's pokemon in the past? That's really cool!"

Delia remembered her little adventure at the beach years ago. "A lot of things happened in the past, a lot of adventures. I'll tell you one day." Delia felt guilty making Ash continue to wait for information. 

Ash was excited and didn't know how closely Delia's story about her past was linked to his questions of his father. Those questions had been momentarily left in the back of his mind. He assumed all the things that could have happened between his mother and Giovanni took place before his parents met. "Why don't you tell me about it now?" 

"Because it's almost midnight," Giovanni informed, looking at the blinking green time display on the black microwave. It sat atop the blue kitchen counter quietly announcing that it was forty minutes past eleven. 

xoxox xox xoxox

The communication systems repair process continued in the Viridian Rocket headquarters. "Okay rookie, test the functions I sent you individually, then together. Make a copy of them and purposely try to mess with them. See how long it takes you to mess up the copy," Archer instructed.

"I'm on it!" Pixel chirped happily. She was having trouble keeping up with Archer, but she was still enjoying her current mission as his assistant. She found a new determination to gain more knowledge about technology.

"How are things going?" Ariana entered the control room. She placed her hands on Archer's shoulders and leaned forward to look at the screen. Her head was right next to his. Pixel saw them from the corner of her eyes in her position sitting right of Archer. They were half covered by one of the three big screens around Archer. 

"The communications system is repaired. I'm implementing some extra security measures. Giovanni has entrusted Team Rocket to us for the time being. I wonder what he'll do," Archer couldn't stop thinking about it.

"We'll just have to trust him in return," Ariana concluded. "I'm sure we'll still get an earful when he comes back. You know how prideful he is and it's obvious he's been holding back. He's probably run off to show that he's more than just a figure of authority that sits in the shadows while his agents do all the work. Relax Arch, he won't do anything too drastic. At least not something that will bring negative consequences to Team Rocket."

"Avoiding consequences and doing something drastic are different things," Archer pointed out, his expression thoughtful. "He might do something drastic to avoid consequences."

"You're not really worried," Ariana grinned, "in fact, you sound more like you're looking forward to it."

"Maybe I want to see him in action," Archer smiled with a look of confidence in his eyes. "How are those codes coming along, rookie?"

Pixel took a moment to reply. She had been listening to the conversation and didn't expect to be addressed at that moment, "no bugs so far."

"Good," the sound of more typing was heard as Archer's fingers moved on the keyboard. "Ari, can you send someone to check the physical state of the security system?"

"Sure," Ariana left the control room once more. 

xoxox xox xoxox

It was mid night and everything was silent outside of the Cerulean City Pokemon Center. Comet and four others broke in quietly through the back door. Three of the five, including Comet, were wearing the Tempest uniform. The other two were wearing Team Rocket uniforms. Purry had snuck inside through a window and was making her way to nurse Joy's room. 

The door to the nurse's room was left partially open. The faint brightness of a tiny Togepi shaped nightlight could be seen inside. Joy was sleeping peacefully in her bed with a man slumbering next to her with light snores. There was a small crib in a corner of the room where a pink haired baby girl slept.

Purry jumped on the bed, waking the couple. Before they could catch her, she dashed out of the room. "A pokemon?" The man was still half asleep and didn't really see which pokemon it was.

"I wonder why it went out of its pokeball," Joy walked over to the door and turned on the light in the hallway. The pokemon that stood at the end of the hall was a Meowth. Joy had not seen her before. "A wild pokemon?" She approached the Meowth slowly, her bare feet stepping noiselessly on the floor. "Come here girl," she knelt down, her long pink night gown brushing against the floor. "Come on, don't be scared."

Purry hissed loudly with her tail standing up straight. Joy was startled and stumbled back, falling into a sitting position on the floor. Her husband helped her to her feet and they watched the pokemon dash away. 

"She might cause trouble with the other pokemon," Joy's husband, Otoshi, was concerned. "She has a lot of fight in her, like Marowak." His long black hair was out of its usual ponytail, reaching down to his mid back. It blended in with the dark shades of green of his loose yukata-style pajamas.

"Are you thinking about catching her?" Joy didn't really need an answer, seeing her husband's grin.

"Marowak will enjoy this battle," he returned to their room and got Marowak's pokeball. He released his long time companion from it out in the hall. "A wild Meowth snuck into the Pokemon Center, let's challenge her."

"Marowak!" The pokemon eagerly agreed, even if he had been woken up in the middle of the night.

The sound of something being knocked over was heard from further into the Pokemon Center. The sound was followed by the baby's small startled voice from the room behind the couple. "It must have been that Meowth," Joy correctly guessed. She was unaware of the quiet thieves that had broken into her home. "I'll go take care of the baby. I hope she falls asleep again soon."

"Don't worry, we'll catch that Meowth," Otoshi assured. He went off to find the Meowth with Marowak.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 57: Give me Heroes

The noise of something being broken echoed in the quiet of the night at the Cerulean City Pokemon Center. "What was that?" The noise startled the thieves from Tempest and Neo Rocket that were hastily putting pokeballs into sacks.

Before anyone could come up with a possible answer to the grunt's worried question, Purry ran past them in the darkness. "Come back here!" Otoshi followed the Meowth, who he thought was wild. He turned the light on, illuminating the large storage room where pokemon were kept in their pokeballs. The thieves were caught in the act, "is this what that wild Meowth wanted me to see? Thank you honorable Meowth, I shall grant you a duel later. Marowak, we can't let these thieves get away!"

xoxox xox xoxox

The noises coming from inside the Pokemon Center were mostly lost in its large halls, but some of the sound waves reached outside. "Something's happening!" Ash alerted.

Ash, Misty, Giovanni, Delia and their pokemon were walking around the Pokemon Center, examining the area. Giovanni noticed that the backdoor was conveniently left open, "we can go in through here." No one questioned the fact that they were technically trespassing, there were other more important things happening at the time.

The group ran through the dark halls of the Pokemon Center until they saw light coming from the storage room. "Marowak, we can't let these thieves get away!"

"Let's see you deal with this!" One of the grunts sent out a pokemon and the action was repeated by the others. Tangela, Grimer, Zubat, Voltorb and Gyarados were sent into battle, the last one belonging to Comet.

Ash was the first to reach the door to the storage room and saw the one who spoke, "Otoshi!" Misty occasionally went back to Cerulean City to make sure her sisters were okay and they weren't just giving away cascade badges to everyone without a battle. Otoshi and Ash had coincidentally met at the Pokemon Center around a year ago. 

The samurai, who remembered how Ash had helped him recover his Indigo League badges years ago, was glad to see Ash again. At the time Brock was also traveling with Ash and Misty. His heart was broken again when he found out that another nurse Joy would be getting married very soon. Ash, Misty and Brock went to the wedding and Brock cried through most of it, albeit the other guests didn't notice his pain and assumed he was just very emotional with happiness for the couple. A year later, Otoshi and Joy had a baby girl who looked just like her mother.

"Ash! Your timing is quite convenient, but I think Marowak and I can handle this," Otoshi sent his pokemon on the attack, "Marowak, use bonemerang!"

"Marowak!" Marowak threw his bone club; it spun in the air and knocked Zubat down. Zubat fell on top of Voltorb, who self destructed in anger.

"Two for one, this is no challenge at all!" Otoshi was confident in Marowak's abilities.

"I guess it was nothing you can't handle, but we did come all this way," Ash looked confident as well.

"It would be rude of me not to share, and you were polite enough to ask first," Otoshi nodded and grinned, "go ahead."

"Alright! Pikachu, let's finished this, thunderbolt!" Ash victoriously called out.

"Gyarados, return!" Comet called his pokemon back into his pokeball just in time to avoid Pikachu's attack. His pokemon was not weak enough to fall so easily even with a type disadvantage, but he wanted to make Tempest look bad.

"Pikachu!" The electric attack was extremely strong and it knocked out Tangela and Grimer instantly. They too were recalled into their pokeballs as the unconscious Zubat and Voltorb had been. One of the Tempest grunts backed away into a corner and whispered hurriedly into a little cell phone.

"I can't let you do this, go Gyarados!" Comet called out Gyarados once more. He couldn't count on Purry for that battle since she had been pretending to be a wild pokemon.

"Are you going to battle or retreat?" Ash questioned impatiently.

Delia recognized Comet but didn't say anything, though she was shocked by his next course of action. "Gyarados, hyper beam, your target is that man!" Comet pointed at Otoshi.

Otoshi didn't expect to be attacked directly and was caught off guard, but Marowak jumped in front of him and protected his trainer. "Marowak!" Otoshi rushed to his pokemon's side, he had taken a direct hit. However, Comet had previously instructed his pokemon not show their true power while they were pretending to be with Tempest, so the attack wasn't as effective as it could have been. 

"Maro... wak..." Marowak struggled to get up, he could still fight.

"That was a cheap shot!" Ash called out in anger. 

"Yeah, that attack was cowardly!" Misty added with the same rage. "I'll give your pokemon an opponent, Gyarados, I choose you!" Misty's own Gyarados emerged from his pokeball, ready to battle against Comet's Gyarados.

Delia frowned and gave Comet a disapproving look; she wouldn't guess he was like that from the short time she had spent with him. Luke had not been that way. In truth that was not Comet's usual battling style, but since he was purposely trying to make Tempest look bad, part of his act included fighting dirty. "Giovanni," Delia reproached, she had a feeling that he must know what was going on and the explanation as to why Comet had a green T on his shirt instead of a red R. Giovanni made no reply and Delia silently assumed everything must be an act.

The two Gyarados were locked in battle, firing hydro pumps and hyper beams at each other. The shelves with pokeballs were knocked over and all those present were soaking wet. "While those two are busy, how about I introduce you to another pokemon?" Comet sent out another pokemon, a Scyther emerged from the pokeball's red beam.

"Tauros, take down!" A new voice called out as a woman in a Team Rocket uniform arrived. The Tauros dashed towards Misty's Gyarados, who would not be able to avoid the attack and continue fighting Comet's Gyarados at the same time.

"Gyarados, watch out!" Misty called out in vain.

"Marowak!" Otoshi didn't have time to voice the name of an attack, but Marowak was quick to react. He slammed his bone club down on Tauros' head, stopping his rampage.

"It's you!" Delia recognized the pink haired woman with the Tauros as one of the people who had tried to kidnap her.

"Scyther, slice that Marowak to pieces with X Scissor!" Comet commanded.

"Two against one is not fair, Pikachu, use thunderbolt on Scyther!" Ash sent out his most trusted pokemon.

"Scyther, forget the attack and dodge the electricity!" Comet called out at the last second, holding Scyther's pokeball ready just in case. However, Scyther was able to narrowly dodge the attack.

"You were going to recall him weren't you?" Ash accused, "that's cheating!"

"The Tempest Gang doesn't play by the rules!" Comet retorted with the cruelest and most mocking tone he could muster.

Delia looked at Giovanni who had been watching everything play out. "I'm not standing by any longer."

"Good, because you and I have unfinished business!" The pink haired woman threatened.

"We're here, we're here, what did we miss?" Another group of five grunts arrived as well; they were all wearing Tempest uniforms. The Tempest grunt with the Zubat had called for reinforcements while the others battled. That brought the Tempest total to eleven, counting Comet, though four of them were already out of pokemon.

"Don't just stand there, attack!" The pink haired woman commanded the recently arrived grunts.

"I haven't train you in a long time, but please try your best Cloyster!" Delia sent out her pokemon from long ago.

"Go Hitmonlee, it's payback time, you should have just come with us quietly!" The pink haired woman sent out her second pokemon. She held a strong grudge against Delia, blaming her for her partner's arrest. The informant, a mysterious person from Saffron City, had requested Delia to be taken to her alive and unharmed, but the woman didn't care anymore. "Hitmolee, revenge!" It was a fitting opening move.

Cloyster's shell closed and the pokemon stayed still even after Hitmonlee's attack had harmlessly ceased, unable to penetrate his strong shell. "Cloyster, what's wrong?" They had been reluctant to play with her in the mansion's yard. It was true that she had not seen Giovanni's pokemon or her own past pokemon in many years, but were they really so neglected during that time?

"Don't be stubborn and listen to Delia," Giovanni ordered and Cloyster immediately opened his shell.

"We have a lot to do," Delia remarked, her displeasure clear in her voice. "For now, please help me Cloyster," playing with her was one thing, but in order to battle for her with all their might, Delia would have to regain the trust she lost when she gave her pokemon away to Giovanni. "Aurora beam!" The beam hit its target, weakening Hitmonlee and the battle continued with Cloyster on the offensive, showing that he was still very powerful, even if he was a little doubtful.

Hitmonlee was not fairing well and his trainer seemed to have all but forgotten her Tauros. The Tauros was soon defeated by Otoshi's Marowak. The pink haired woman recalled both the Tauros and Hitmonlee, glaring at the new group of grunts to do something. 

The five Tempest grunts sent out more pokemon to join the battle: Parasect, Exeggutor, Hitmonchan, Hypno and Alakazam. Everything had spiraled into chaos, Giovanni didn't expect the battle to be organized, but he didn't expect it to get this messy. He had no more time to observe, "I might as well join the chaos, Golem, Machamp, Rhydon, earthquake!"

The three pokemon materialized in red beams and combined their attacks into a massive earthquake that threatened to make the Pokemon Center fall apart. "This is crazy!" One of the Tempest grunts from the first group cried out. 

"We have to retreat!" A Neo Rocket grunt agreed.

"Don't be so cowardly!" Comet scolded them. Scyther had been avoiding Pikachu's attacks, being recalled into his pokeball if it was too late to dodge, then being sent out again. The two Gyarados rendered each other unconscious and were called back into their pokeballs.

"Pika!" Pikachu couldn't stay on his feet because of the Earthquake. Scyther was flying and his trainer could have taken the opportunity to attack. Unknown to Ash, Comet had decided that Giovanni's interference was a signal that the battle had to end soon and no further dirty tricks were necessary.

Why didn't he attack and why did he look so familiar? "You're that waiter!" Ash realized, "you look different when you're not wearing lime green... But that's not the point, I'm not letting any of you get away!" With the ability to fly, Charizard should be fine, even with the Earthquake. Go Char-" Ash was interrupted before he could release Charizard from his pokeball when a seemingly wild Meowth jumped on his head and got away with his hat. Purry was feeling bored not to be included in the battle. "Come back here!" It was very hard to chase after her with the ground shaking. On the bright side it was also difficult for the grunts to escape.

Golem, Machamp and Rhydon were starting to look tired, but Giovanni would not allow the attack to cease, "don't stop now, keep using earthquake!" Marowak and Pikachu were becoming too dizzy, thus their respective trainers picked them up and held them, with Ash momentarily postponing the recovery of his hat to protect Pikachu. Delia called Cloyster back into his pokeball and Persian jumped on Giovanni's back. Helpless against the massive earthquake, Parasect, Exeggutor, Hitmonchan, Hypno and Alakazam finally fell unconscious and Golem, Machamp and Rhydon at last stopped the earthquake attack. The ground continued to vibrate for a while, albeit much more gently.

The sound of sirens was heard outside and Comet retreated, leaving the grunts behind. "Next time Tempest will take down Team Rocket for sure!" Comet jumped on Scyther's back. 

Purry jumped on Comet's shoulders, still in possession of Ash's hat. "My hat!" Ash rushed after them as Comet exited through a window, riding on Scyther.

"Nobody move!" Jenny dashed into the storage room, "you, near the window, freeze!"

"They stole my hat!" Ash tried to get out through the window, but Jenny hurried to stop him.

"Wait, it's a misunderstanding, Ash is not with the bad guys!" Misty tried to explain.

In the mist of the chaos another earthquake took place, though it was a natural one. It made Ash fall to the floor as he tried to climb out the window. "Stop that!" Jenny shouted, thinking that it was being caused by the pokemon.

"That's not the pokemon," as if to prove his point, Giovanni returned his pokemon to their pokeballs. The earthquake ceased after a few seconds, "that happens sometimes, when strong pokemon use earthquake at the same time. The Earth reacts, but it's nothing to worry about." It had been a long time since his original pokemon were able to create that effect. Giovanni had assumed they simply couldn't do it anymore, but something seemed to motivate them to try harder to win that battle. 

"Everyone please calm down," nurse Joy stood at the door among the flow of officers that arrested the people in uniforms and watched the others suspiciously. "It's okay, Ash has no connection to any gangs." Joy held the baby protectively in her arms, glad that the police had finally arrived. She had called them as soon as she realized what was going on.

"Exactly, if he says he only wants his hat back, that is all there is to it," Otoshi added.

Ash looked out the window but saw no sign of the hat thieves, "they're gone, but I won't give up, I'll definitely find it!"

"What's so special about a hat?" Giovanni couldn't help it but to ask. The hat in question looked very old, it was about time Ash replaced it. Better yet, he could stop wearing hats and learn to keep his hair under control.

"It's a Pokemon League collectable item; I've had it for years! I have other hats at home, but that one is special. I decided to wear it for luck in the Viridian City tournament. I had to send a million post cards to win it and I have to get it back!"

Ash attempted to continue his search and rescue mission for his hat, but Delia stopped him. "It's okay, I'm sure your hat will be returned to you." Delia reasoned that Comet must still be working for Giovanni, infiltrating Tempest. She looked at Giovanni insistently, "right?"

Giovanni wasn't sure what Delia was expecting him to say, but he found Ash's attachment to a simple hat to be ridiculous. Even if it was a collector's item, it was still just a hat. "Right..." he decided to agree; maybe she just wanted someone to support her statement. He didn't know why Ash would believe it, unless he was as much of an idealist as Delia, which was probably the case.

"Cheer up, Ash," Misty encouraged, with Pikachu adding in a few words in his own language. "You got your hat back the last time a pokemon stole it."

"Yeah, but I didn't lose sight of it like this and Team Rocket wasn't involved," Ash frowned.

"Karma is strong, that's what I've learned," Otoshi voiced, "your hat will be returned."

Delia nodded in agreement, "Giovanni will find it for you."

"What?" Giovanni certainly didn't expect that and neither did anyone else.

"Just ask your friend the detective for some help," Delia grinned. 

It made Giovanni wonder if this was some sort of strange revenge she was using to annoy him. If that was the case she accomplished her goal because he was annoyed. He hid that fact, seeing as everyone was staring at him waiting for his reply. "I'll see what I can do."

Since everyone was trying to cheer him up, Ash thought perhaps he shouldn't make such a big fuss. Even if it was his beloved hat and he missed it terribly, Ash calmed down for the time being, "thank you."

xoxox xox xoxox 

By the time Ash, Misty, Delia Giovanni and their pokemon returned to the Cerulean gym, the cake was ready to be taken out of the oven. "Let it cool, it's too hot right now, besides, I have to put the layers together and decorate it," Delia warned Ash, who clearly wanted to start eating immediately. 

Several of them felt guilty for the state the Pokemon Center was left in. The walls, floor and ceiling were cracked, with parts of the ceiling having collapsed. The building would have to go through heavy maintenance. The structure was too unstable and not safe to live in, Joy and her family would be temporarily staying at their good friend Jenny's house. The pokeballs would be kept in the police station for safety.

Joy and Otoshi assured them that all that mattered was that everyone was safe and none of the pokemon were stolen. Plus they blamed Tempest entirely for the situation, believing the story about the Rockets being agents of Tempest using Team Rocket's identity falsely. As for Ash, Misty, Delia and Giovanni, they were heroes and that information would surely reach public knowledge.

"Giovanni, I know it's late but could you please leave a message for your detective friend so that he gets to work on finding the hat first thing tomorrow?" Delia smiled sweetly. 

The part about having connections with a detective fit the situation of being better informed than expected, but Giovanni was still annoyed with the entire hat situation. "Alright, I'll leave a message," he checked his cell phone, which was now working, "looks like I finally have a signal," he began to type a message for Comet.

"It was probably the cell phone company having problems, that happens to me too," Ash commented, while eyeing the cake hungrily. "Thanks again for helping me find my hat."

"You're welcome," Giovanni tried his best not to sound annoyed or sarcastic. Despite all his public relations acting experience, he wasn't sure if he was successful.

"It's really special," Ash continued to explained, noticing that Giovanni wasn't quite convinced about the importance of the hat. "It's something that only I have and I can't stand the thought of it being taken away. It's rare, it's unique and it's mine." If power was added to the equation Giovanni could relate to it. Ash noticed the change in Giovanni's expression from forced understanding to truly knowing what he meant. Though he wasn't too observant, that was one of those rare moments, "you understand now, don't you? I'm glad," he smiled. "It was also interesting to see why I heard you were called Giovanni of the Earth. I thought it was because of the Earth badge, but there's more to it. It's because even the Earth itself responds to your pokemon, isn't it?"

"Something like that," Giovanni found that the pokemon were acting differently, but he didn't fully understand why.

Delia's pokemon felt betrayed to have been left with another trainer, who didn't appreciate them as much as she did. Delia had trained Giovanni's pokemon in the past, but even if they might have felt abandoned by her sudden departure, they were his pokemon from the start. It was not the same; they didn't feel that she had an obligation towards them. They were happy to see Delia again and tried to earn her attention by battling like they used to before they became unmotivated after years of neglect. Persian was treated well, so even if he had missed Delia, he was most attached to Giovanni and had no reason to feel bitter.

Giovanni's cell phone beeped with an incoming text message and Ash froze hopefully, "there's no way the hat could have been found that fast," Giovanni looked at the screen. Comet would surely be confused by his strange request to send the stolen hat to him. Comet's message assured that the hat was already on its way via secure express mail and no one from Tempest or Neo Rocket saw him send it. The whole thing somehow felt like a spy movie. "It's just an automatic reply saying my message was received."

"Oh..." Ash knew it was silly to hope for such immediate results. His mood took a turn for the better when Delia began to put the finishing touches on the cake, once it had cooled.

Delia covered the cake with frosting, placing the chocolate chip cookie flavored part on the dish first, then the pure chocolate layer and after covering it with more sugary white frosting, she place the cheese cake on top for an unusual but delicious combination. She added some extra caramel to the top and finally added little balls of cookies and cream ice-cream on top, so that there would be one ball on each piece when it was cut.

"I have to take a picture of it!" Misty announced as she ran off to find her camera.

After the pictures were taken, Ash could wait no longer, "I'm hungry," he emphasized. He watched impatiently as Misty got some plates and spoons and Delia began to cut the cake. The rest of the pokemon were let out of their pokeballs for the treat too.

The cake was served and they began to eat, including the pokemon. "Slow down, Ash," Delia reminded.

"It's delicious!" Ash loudly exclaimed.

"This is the cake I want," Misty assumed the perfect elements for her wedding would come to her when she saw them. "The cake for our wedding, I take it that's okay with you, Ash?"

"Mmm-hmm," Ash nodded in the middle of savoring a bite.

"Would you bake it?" Misty asked Delia hopefully, though she knew the answer that would come.

"Of course!" Delia couldn't be happier to have been asked to bake their wedding cake, though they didn't even have a date planned out to hold the ceremony yet. She looked at Giovanni with curiosity, "like it?"

"It's the best thing I've ever tasted," though Giovanni was in the middle of his good gym leader act, Delia could easily tell that he wasn't lying. She felt a strange sense of pride in knowing that with a little creativity and perseverance she was able to make something that he liked more than what his chefs made. It was also very nice that they could eat together like this. She hoped that even after Ash eventually learned the truth, they could do this again.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. Otoshi appeared in the episode Bad to the Bone.


	16. Part 16

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 58: Give me Resolve

The next day, Ash made his way through the Cerulean gym around ten in the morning. He was still sleepy, but he got up anyway. He didn't know why, it was as if something was about to happen. He didn't know if it concerned him or not. He found Misty feeding the pokemon. "Morning," the greeting was accentuated with a yawn.

"Good morning sleepy head," Misty teased as Ash gave her a kiss. He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and rested his head sleepily on her shoulder.

"I think Goldeen will be happier here." Goldeen shyly observed the other pokemon. Another Goldeen and a pair of Seaking approached her curiously. Soon, she was swimming around with the other water pokemon. It was the Goldeen that was given to Ash at the Viridian tournament.

"It looks like she's already making friends," Misty smiled. "Your mom volunteered to make breakfast." The scent of pancakes from the kitchen confirmed that she must be almost done. 

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ash cheered, he was feeling a little more awake at the thought of breakfast.

In the kitchen, they found Delia setting the table and greeted her with "good morning" and "pika pika." Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulders and gave Delia the sweetest smile.

"Good morning," Delia replied, "and yes, Pikachu, you can have pancakes soon."

Misty sat down next to Ash. She tried to brush his hair with her hands; it was sticking out in every direction. "Did you sleep well?" She gave him a small kiss.

"After all the excitement I could hardly sleep," Ash admitted. "Wait a minute," he realized that someone was missing, "where's Giovanni? Is he still sleeping?"

"He had to leave," Delia gave Ash a weak smile, but forced her tone of voice to remain somewhat cheerful. She woke up before Ash and Misty did, by then Giovanni was already gone. "You two were sleeping, he asked me to say goodbye. Someone came to pick him up from Viridian City," it was a lie and Delia didn't feel good about it. She didn't know what else to say to avoid suspicion. She wondered what Giovanni could be doing. She knew it had to be related to Team Rocket and he didn't want to involve Delia.

"What about our battle?" Ash pouted. He had been looking forward to battling Giovanni. That wasn't the only situation in his mind, "what about my hat?"

"Ash, please be patient, everything will work out," though it wasn't her intention, Delia wondered if she was accidentally lying again.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Viridian Rocket headquarters, Jessie rested her back against the cold metal underground tunnel and slid down to the floor. James repeated the motion next to her. Their exhausted pokemon were resting in their pokeballs, except Meowth. He snuck into Giovanni's office and was napping on his chair. "We did it, we've searched this place upside down and caught every traitor that was here. I heard they did some really tough searches in the other bases just in case too. The rest of them are hiding somewhere else." Jessie closed her eyes. The cold hard floor wasn't comfortable at all, but she was so tired she was about to fall asleep.

"We helped Team Rocket," James tilted his head towards Jessie and closed his eyes. He wondered what would happen to them after the boss heard what they did. Would they truly return to Team Rocket? Was it worth it? They were too tired to think about that at the moment.

"Hey you two, get up!" Ariana commanded, she crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. "I give you points for being loyal despite your situation, but I can't blame Giovanni for thinking you're incompetent. Why are you sleeping here? That makes you look weak!"

Jessie and James jumped to their feet, "yes, ma'am!"

Ariana laughed, revealing that she was only pretending to be angry at them. "You've done well, but it's not up to me to allow you to return to Team Rocket or not. For now, you should go home so you're not in the path of Giovanni's rage when he returns. Unless you really want to stay for the rest of the battle," she challenged.

Jessie and James looked at Ariana's serious expression, at each other's confused faces, then back at Ariana. "It's not over?" Jessie finally voiced.

"Of course not, we just got the traitors and infiltrators. The rest of the enemy gang is still out there, who knows what they'll do. We need to be prepared to defend the base, just in case." Ariana wasn't expecting a confrontation to occur too soon, unless Giovanni provoked it to get things over with. If not, then the enemy would probably lay low for a while. It was an opportunity to be sneaky and put an end to their plans.

"We're staying," Jessie decided without giving it too much thought. Her determination was unbreakable.

"Yeah, we're Rockets. This is who we are and we're not going to run away!" James added with the same determination.

"Good, but you're not in any shape to battle right now, if it comes to that. Your pokemon are exhausted as well," Ariana reasoned, "go to the infirmary, the others are resting with their pokemon there. I suggest, no, I order you to do the same."

"Yes, ma'am!" Jessie and James eagerly saluted and did as they were told. The order to rest was very welcomed.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Cerulean City gym, the atmosphere was full of uncertainty. "What are we going to do now?" Ash asked between big bites of food. He was devouring his pancakes almost as fast as Pikachu. The yellow electric pokemon could eat a lot when it came to pancakes. Though the humans found it odd, no one stopped Pikachu from putting ketchup on the pancakes. 

"I don't know," Misty's words carried a deeper meaning than simply not having a plan for the day. "I'm going to call my sisters." She went to use the phone in the living room, which left Ash in the kitchen with Delia. Misty purposely went away in case they wanted a little mother-son moment.

"Are you going back to Pallet Town?" Ash inquired curiously.

"Yes," Delia didn't know what else she could possibly do. The question caught her off guard. She remembered that Ash's car was no more, its remains having been left behind the previous night. Replacing the engine would be more expensive than what the car was worth anyway. "I'll take a few buses until I get there, don't worry about me."

The memory of Ash's car invaded his mind at the mention of transportation. His expression turned grim. "I guess I'll be taking a few buses and walking in the near future too." He used to walk everywhere. After getting used to moving from one city to another in a matter of hours rather than days, he really missed his car. All her sisters had their own cars, but Misty never felt the necessity to get one despite having a license. She always traveled with Ash anyway.

"It's not so bad," Delia smiled trying to lighten the mood. The weight of uncertainty was still upon her. She wondered when and if Giovanni would contact her. He left without saying anything, she woke up and he was already gone. She understood Team Rocket's situation kept him busy, but that only worried her more.

"I suppose..." Ash let out a breath. He remembered why he had initially asked his mother if she was going back to Pallet Town. The question wasn't originally about transportation, "I thought you might go to Viridian City. I guess the less people are involved the better. Is it safe in Pallet Town?"

Delia didn't want Ash to worry about her. Yet there wasn't anything solid she could ascertain to provide reassurance. "I'm sure I'll be fine. They were after Giovanni more so than me. He'll lead them away and I'm sure he'll be okay too. He's a strong pokemon trainer. Everything will work out."

"I hope so," Ash still felt gloomy. He had no direct part in the Team Rocket situation and didn't fully understand it. It made him more uneasy to think about Tempest. He wanted to do something but didn't know what. To top it all up, he didn't have a hat. People would probably give him weird looks on the street due to his hair being nearly impossible to be kept in place. He brushed his hands against it helplessly, it wasn't cooperating.

Watching her son, Delia actually considered asking Giovanni about what he used to keep his hair in place without ending up with a built in helmet. That had happened to Ash once, due to excessive hair gel. Then she told herself to stop thinking of such little details. She couldn't run away from the big picture and the fact that she and Ash might not see Giovanni again any time soon if ever. He was supposed to take her to meet certain people, but Delia didn't know if she should believe him. She wondered if she should just stay away, but couldn't leave things as they were.

"What does that mean? Daisy! Don't hang up!" Misty's voice came from the living room sounding very upset. Ash and Delia left the kitchen and rushed to her.

They found Misty still sitting in front of the video phone. Her expression was distressed. She was trying to call Daisy again, but the call didn't go through. "What happened?" Ash asked.

"Daisy didn't explain it clearly. She said something about the mafia, but she wasn't making any sense. She told me not to worry if Ackbar Inc. was on the news. I don't know what's going on, but it looks bad. She sounded as if she didn't understand it either. Team Rocket, the mafia, Ackbar Inc., it's all connected somehow," Misty's worries grew by the second. "I'm calling Violet, maybe she can explain things. It seems they've all gone their separate ways for now."

Ash and Delia watched silently as Misty dialed the number of Violet's cell phone. It rang several times until finally Violet's voice was heard, "Lily?" She had not been paying attention to the name on the cell phone's screen.

"It's Misty," The device was set to voice only, though cell phones with video phone capabilities were no longer rare. Misty didn't like the way Violet sounded and she wished she could see her expression. "Do you know what's happening with Daisy?"

"Ask her yourself, I'm like not talking to her!" Violet yelled. The sound of screeching tires, a horn and angry words indicated that she was driving recklessly.

"Violet, are you driving? Pull over for a second and explain what's going on, please!" Misty nearly begged. As if the recent attack on Vermilion City wasn't enough, Daisy had started going on about the mafia. She was making no sense and on top of everything, something was clearly wrong with Violet. 

"I don't have time for this. I'll have to like save Kenobi myself," the sound of police sirens was heard. Violet's reckless driving didn't go unnoticed. "I have to go, don't call me, I'll be busy."

The call was ended. With Violet's cell phone turned off, Misty could no longer reach her. "What in the world is going on?" The youngest Waterflower yelled out in frustration. 

Ash hugged her supportively, "maybe Lily knows, let's try to call her."

Misty nodded and dialed the number. She waited holding her breath until Lily's face came on the screen. What little of the background that could be perceived indicated that she was in a fancy room with predominant sandy colors. Her eyes were red, she had been crying. "Misty?" She didn't expect her youngest sister to call.

"Lily, what's happening? Please tell me!" Misty insisted desperately.

Lily nodded; she could see Ash and Delia behind her sister. It was alright, they were trust worthy people. "Misty, I'm scared. I like didn't know what to do so I just tried not to think about it. This can't be happening." Tears flooded Lily's face as her denial gave out.

"Lily!" Misty wanted to jump into the screen and appear on the other side. The hardships that her sisters were enduring hurt her, even more so because the situation was in many ways unknown to her.

Lily shook her head and evened her breathing, "Lando is... No, Mr. Ackbar, his father, was like involved with the mafia, with Team Rocket. Years ago, when Lando was very young, he was like sick and his father was able to save him thanks to some business deals he made with Team Rocket. It was like the only way to get the money he needed for his son's surgery. Ackbar became a mafia clan, they like served the Roketto, Team Rocket."

Ash stared at the screen with his anger and frustration building up. Team Rocket's name kept coming up in bad situations lately. Even if that other gang, Tempest, was apparently worse, Team Rocket was still bad.

"You're saying that Team Rocket and this Roketto clan from the mafia are the same?" Misty watched as her sister nodded, giving it some time to sink in. "The Ackbar family is involved with them, in debt?" Misty's voice gave out. She pushed it to work again seconds later, "Lando, Daisy's fiance is involved with the mafia, with Team Rocket, because he's part of the Ackbar clan..."

"I don't know a lot, but they can't just like break away," Lily replied with hushed sobs. Delia bit her lip and remained silent. The connections Team Rocket had ran far and deep. She wasn't expecting another of their connections to come out so close. "Team Rocket betrayed Ackbar, they attacked."

"Wasn't that Tempest?" Misty's question confused Lily. "Team Rocket's rival has been causing trouble in Team Rocket's name to gain more enemies for them."

Lily's eyes widened as she considered the possibility of everything being a big misunderstanding or a setup. "Then Ackbar going to war with Team Rocket might be like a really big mistake."

"This just keeps getting more complicated," Misty was feeling helpless with the situation.

"Lily, you should tell Daisy and Lando about Tempest," Ash suggested, he didn't know what other course of action to take beyond clarifying things. "Team Rocket is bad, but fighting with them is probably what Tempest wants Ackbar to do. Tempest is worse than Team Rocket; we can't let them get their way." 

The pieces fell into place perfectly when Misty thought about it, "Tempest is using Ackbar to weaken Team Rocket." In that situation Ackbar would become a sacrifice for Tempest's purpose. "You have to warn Daisy and Lando!"

"I'll tell them, right away!" Lily exclaimed.

"What about Violet?" Misty quickly asked before Lily hung up. "I called her and she was driving somewhere, recklessly by the sound of it."

Lily's expression darkened further, "Kenobi is missing, that's why he like didn't call Violet. She thought he was like helping his father, the Viridian mayor. The mayor called Violet asking if Kenobi was with her. No one knows what happened to him. Daisy and Violet argued because of the Antilles family being like suspected of supporting Team Rocket."

Delia had a bad feeling about Kenobi's disappearance. His father, Rune Antilles, was involved with Team Rocket and had a relatively important position. Kenobi might have been taken prisoner by the Rocket traitors or even by Tempest. "For now, you should tell Daisy to convince Lando not to challenge Team Rocket," Delia suggested. "Tempest is the main enemy. I'm sure information about Kenobi will turn up."

"Alright, I'll do that," Lily nodded; her expression was stressed and worried.

xoxox xox xoxox

In Saffron City, the sun was obstructed by tall buildings that created a shadowy darkness in the alley. The entrance to the secret battle arena was closed and would not open for business until noon. Regardless, Proton knocked on the door. His face was shrouded in additional darkness by the shade of his black hat. The red R on his chest was clearly visible. He made no attempt to hide the symbol of Team Rocket, carrying it with real pride.

"We're closed, come back later," a gruff voice replied from beyond the locked door.

Proton grinned and glanced at the rope that extended from the roof of the neighboring building. "I think not. You see, I have an urgent message from the boss of Team Rocket."

The shuffling of feet was heard from beyond the wooden door. Hushed voices echoed in the basement and a few clangs of metal were heard. The muffled words were angry but indistinguishable. 

Proton held a small explosive; he retrieved a lighter from his pocket and lit the fuse attached to the black dynamite stick with a red R. Without a second to waste, he hurried to climb up the rope to the roof of the building and pulled the rope up. 

A tall figure burst through the door with a crowbar in hand. The guard was immediately thrown back by the force of the explosion. He fell into his allies behind him, knocking them down like dominos. 

A man and woman pushed past the dazed guards despite their warnings to stay back. "Up here," Proton threw a black enveloped down. The paper fell slowly; it swayed from side to side above the glare of the couple below. The woman outstretched her hand and caught the black envelope, noticing the red R on it. 

The guards had recovered and intended to pursue the Rocket. The man raised his hand in a signal for them to stop. His female companion seemed to be glaring a hole through the black paper with shiny red ink. "It seems he wants a showdown." She looked up at Proton, "tell your boss that we accept his challenge!" They would get their revenge on Giovanni for putting them in jail years ago when they took over the Viridian gym.

Proton grinned and did a mock salute. He tossed down another small explosive and watched in amusement as the enemies scrambled inside. "They're like cowardly Diglett." With a low chuckle he dashed away and jumped to the roof of another building near by. Behind that building, he made it to the emergency stairs. The thin metal staircase screeched with each hasty step he took.

He made it down to a much wider alleyway that led towards the main road. An orange sports car was waiting for him there. Proton got in and the car sped away. "They accepted the challenge. I guess we can expect them to prepare an ambush in the meeting place."

"You know what to do," Giovanni was planning to end the problem with the same strategy as the enemy. They wanted to take over Team Rocket by getting rid of the leader, so it would be a battle between the leaders. 

"I've got your back," Proton ascertained. "This plan is risky, I like it." Proton's voice didn't lack in confidence.

"It will work," Giovanni affirmed, "the others better do their job. Ackbar is being troublesome." He felt frustrated that he didn't act faster. The situation with Ackbar was most likely a misunderstanding. Giovanni assumed that Bane's son had taken over command of the company. Apparently, Lando didn't realize what was going on. He must have the wrong idea thinking that Team Rocket attacked for no reason. None the less, he would be punished for his troublesome mistaken conclusion. 

Giovanni also received word that Kenobi was missing. That issue had to be solved before his battle to avoid a troublesome hostage situation. Kenobi had more loyalty to Team Rocket than Rune. It was true loyalty based on something more than fear. Perhaps Giovanni would push Rune to retire after the next office term ended. Then Kenobi could take his place as a more competent Viridian mayor.

xoxox xox xoxox

On that same morning, Comet reported to the mysterious Saffron City mayor. Her office was dimly lit, covered in red. The same Ninetales sat regally beside the lady. The unidentified lady carried an elegant royal air and looked menacing in the shadows. "The operation last night at the Cerulean City Pokemon Center was a terrible failure."

Comet shifted uncomfortably and fingered Gyarados' pokeball on his belt, all part of his act. "I apologize for that, ma'am," he gave her a remorseful look, keeping his head low.

"Not only did you fail to steal any pokemon, but most of the agents involved were arrested. I find it odd that you could escape," the lady had a mocking grin. "You didn't seem to be the cowardly type who runs away at the first sign of danger."

Comet tried to remain focus on his act, "the situation was... overwhelming." He made a few hurried nervous sounding excuses, as if he was truly regretful of how things went. "They called for help, some strong trainers arrived and-"

"The Viridian City gym leader," the lady interrupted. She leaned back on her large red leather chair. She sunk deeper into the shadows and her expression was nearly impossible to perceive. She was satisfied, "I have seen the news. That wasn't the only thing mentioned on the news though. The production of medical supplies in Kanto seems to have been paralyzed. The hospitals and clinics will be alright for a while, but by next week the difference will become noticeable."

Far from sounding concerned, the lady sounded proud, "Ackbar Inc. didn't control each and every medicine and medical tool on the market, but they control a piece of each so it's all the same. Even if another company tried to produce something, they cannot if one key material is missing. The medical industry is dependant on Ackbar. At the same time Ackbar is dependant on the transport of cargo handled by Antilles. The cargo company is run by a board of executives, but the mayor of Viridian City is the owner." More so Giovanni was the owner; Rune was only there to help hide the monopoly the Rocket leader administrated.

The lady chuckled fondly, "the take over was easy. The previous cargo company was left weakened after an incident that resulted in lawsuits and boycott. The event involved one of their ships being hijacked by terrorists. The S.S. Lapras, I believe that was the ship's name, if memory serves. Antilles' cargo company, Antilles Oceanus, is also the main source of imported food in Kanto. As for the local produce, I'm sure Team Rocket has ties to that area of business too. Team Rocket also holds many shares in the stock market and has vastly influential representatives in several boards of executives in many areas. Plus they have the big guns, but their weapons manufacturing is top secret," she grinned mischievously.

"You're well informed..." Comet commented suspiciously. He didn't expect the mysterious Saffron City mayor to reveal so much or to know it in the first place. 

The lady laughed as if she had heard something very amusing. "Team Rocket is not trying to take over Kanto, they already have! The same goes for the Orange Islands and Johto. As for the other regions, their market control of food and medicines is at least eighty percent. Only a few products can be made without some Team Rocket involvement. Soon their control will reach the same level as Kanto. Until that control extends throughout the world, it must remain a secret. There will be minimal rebellions and resistance when the time comes."

"By the time they realize what is happening, they will be under Team Rocket's firm rule! Furthermore, if they try to fight back, they'll only hurt themselves. The world will depend on Team Rocket. Any hopes of ending their rule, will be suicide," the lady's laughter echoed. "I thought it was impossible to take over the whole world. If he plays his cards right, he might just do it!" 

After more laughter, her expression turned serious. "Things like our current situation with Neo Rocket and Tempest will get in the way. Giovanni needs to pay attention to those details. He needs to learn, it's for his own good. Dear boy, you've done exactly what I wanted you to do. Now it's time for your final mission..."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 59: Give me Devotion

After Comet left the Saffron city hall, Akira arrived. She had fallen asleep on the way and taken some time to rest. She didn't mean to, but no one wanted to disturb her. She was a fast healer and her leg had recovered enough for her to walk easily. Running would still hurt, but she didn't expect to need to run. She sent her fans away to get her a few things she claimed to want. A strawberry sundae, purple nail polish, a bottle of perfume of a certain brand, some new clothes from specific stores. It was all just to get rid of them. She needed to investigate on her own.

When the Vermilion attack occurred, the mysterious Saffron City mayor contacted her to assure her it was done by false Rockets. Akira didn't know if this unknown woman was trying to stop her from taking revenge on Team Rocket or aiding her in taking revenge on the real culprits. 

Akira had not gone to meet her initially, even if the mayor had requested it. Instead she tried to go on with her plans to get revenge. She wondered if she should have gone to Saffron City from the start. She wondered if this woman had known Mirta and if she knew the secret Akira so badly craved to know. What was she? Why was she different? 

As a child, Akira, then called Secura, had once heard Mirta talking to someone else. She closed her eyes and picture herself as a little girl walking through the cold empty halls of the orphanage one rainy night when she couldn't sleep. She saw light coming from Mirta's small office where she kept records and paper work for the orphanage. The door was mostly closed, parted from the frame a mere few inches. "Secura is the grim reaper; we can't let her curse run free," Mirta voiced.

"I know, I haven't told anyone about her," a second female voice replied. "I know I can entrust her to you. History can't repeat itself. I have big plans; I'll obtain what he couldn't. I have someone to help me get it. This will most likely be my last visit in a long time."

"You don't come often as it is," Mirta reminded. "I know I can't talk you out of doing what you want, just be careful."

Secura was frozen in the hallway as she listened. The grim reaper? That was only a myth, she was young, but she didn't believe in such things. What could be so terrible that could be compared to death? Was she dying? Did she have a horrible illness? She didn't feel sick. She didn't dare look into the office; she never knew who Mirta spoke to that night. The little girl retreated silently into her room. She told herself she had misheard. She never dared to ask for the truth. She wanted to know, but at the same time she feared to know. The memories of that night haunted her until eventually the need to know overcame the fear, but it was too late.

Taking a deep breath, Akira made her way to the Saffron mayor's office. No one tried to stop her, as if she was expected. She opened the door and saw a world of red and shadows. 

"Sit, child," there was a lady sitting behind a desk with a Ninetales at her side. The woman was covered in shadows, her face hidden. Her hands were folded on the desk, fingers entwined, nails crimson.

Akira sat down across the desk. She couldn't hold her questions in any longer. "Who are you?" Her voice was desperate. "Who am I?"

"Who you are is up to you to decide," the lady spoke calmly. "As for what you are..." She paused observing Akira's intense gaze. "You are a traitor."

"What?" Akira gasped. "Is that why you called me, to stop me from causing trouble to Team Rocket?" 

"You were in the news, you're quite a troublesome one indeed," the lady chuckled. "I'm afraid I'll have to imprison you indefinitely."

"No, I won't let you!" Akira stood up and reached for the two pokeballs on her belt. "You don't know; you don't know anything! You didn't know Mirta! You can't give me any answers!" She released the two pokemon from their pokeballs. Jigglypuff and Loudred appeared from the balls' red beams.

"Two against one? That's fine by me," The lady chuckled darkly. "Nien, flame thrower!"

Jigglypuff dove out of the way and hid under the desk. Loudred was left to fight on his own. "Hyper voice!" Akira commanded.

The lady glared, but refused to acknowledge her discomfort beyond that. Ninetales howled in annoyance. "Shut him up Nien, fire blast!"

The blast of fire made the difference in power between the two pokemon obvious. Loudred was knocked out and thrown back at Akira. She fell on the carpet and called back her unconscious pokemon off her. "Don't just hide there Jigglypuff, do something!"

Jigglypuff crawled out from under the desk and hopped on top of it, "Jiggly!" She picked up a red marker from the desk and held it like a microphone, "Jigglypuff-"

"No! Don't sing, fight!" Akira screamed in frustration. She wasn't a real pokemon trainer and didn't know how to use the song to her advantage.

Angered by the interruption, Jigglypuff pouted. Her body was filled with air and she grew slightly larger. She let out the air in a huff, with an annoyed, "puff!"

"The show's over, little girl," the mysterious lady grinned victoriously, "Nien, tackle!" She pointed towards Akira. The Ninetales jumped on her and pinned her to the floor. 

Akira didn't stop struggling, "let me go!" Nien growled threateningly and bit her shoulder. Akira screamed in pain, with tears rolling down her cheeks. She was crying more so out of frustration than physical pain.

The lady pressed a button on a small intercom device on her desk, "I have a prisoner that needs to be escorted to her cell." 

In a matter of seconds, two men in dark red tuxedoes entered the office to take Akira away. They made sure to take away her pokeballs as well. "Her pokemon, Madame," one of the men held out the pokeballs. One contained Loudred and the other was empty.

"Not interested, you two can battle to see who will keep that Loudred later," she dismissed the Loudred she viewed as weak.

"Thank you, Madame," the two men chorused while they held Akira tightly. She kicked and screamed but could not break free from their iron grip.

Nien sat proudly beside her trainer. She watched as they took the human away. She shared the mocking pride that her trainer displayed. 

The two men dragged the complaining girl out and closed the office door. Madame Boss was aware that Akira didn't recognize her as Giovanni's mother. It didn't matter if she did or didn't. Madame looked back at the Jigglypuff on the desk. "It didn't look like you wanted to fight."

"Puff, puff!" Jigglypuff waived the marker around then held it like a microphone. "Jiggly!"

"You want to sing?" Madame laughed. "So that's why you became that girl's pokemon, because she was a singer. I have no use for a pokemon that isn't good at fighting. My business is in battle, not musical performances. Let yourself out little one." On a whim, she decided to spare the Jigglypuff as a reward for being amusing.

"Puff!" Angered that her song wasn't appreciated, Jigglypuff stomped away. She left the office and city hall without looking back. Such an ungrateful audience wasn't worth singing for anyway. She kept the red marker; it may come in handy later.

xoxox xox xoxox

The tension was heavy at the Cerulean gym. Misty was very worried about her sisters. "Let's call the Viridian mayor and let him know that Violet is on her way. She might need help," Delia suggested.

"Alright, the number is on the contact list," Misty scrolled through the numbers recorded in the video phone until she found it. "It's ringing..."

A picture of the Viridian mayor with a bright green leafy background appeared on the screen. "You have reached Rune Antilles, the mayor of Viridian City. I hope to count with your vote for the next elections! I am hard at work making Viridian City a better place and cannot reach the phone right now. Please leave a short message after the beep and I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

"Hi, this is Misty, Violet's sister. I'm not sure if you already know, Violet is on her way to Viridian City. She might be having some trouble on the road," Misty didn't know how to explain things without making her sister sound bad. It could be, and probably would be, interpreted in a negative way if she said Violet was being chased by the police.

Delia placed her hand on Misty's shoulder in a silent offering to take care of the message. Her instinct told her that Rune had to be keeping track of any incoming communications given the situation. "Rune, this is Delia. I was with you and Giovanni watching the tournament at the Viridian Stadium, remember?" Delia's sweet voice shifted to a very commanding, dangerous tone, "pick up the phone right now!"

Ash and Misty jumped at the sudden change in her voice. They attributed it to stress. Their attention focused on the screen again when the picture changed to a live video. Rune was in his office where shades of green were everywhere. The wallpaper was adorned with leaves. The wooden furniture was of a peculiar design with little branches and plastic leaves decorating it. Each piece simulated a very odd kind of fictional tree that happened to be shaped like furniture. "Yes, ma'am!" The Viridian mayor squeaked in the same tone he used for Giovanni when he was told to shut up.

"How did you know he would pick up?" Ash wondered in amazement.

"Intuition," Delia replied with an innocent smile. "Besides, if he didn't pick up, he would call us back immediately after hearing that message. We had to let him know it was very urgent."

"My apologies," Rune sighed, "it's just that Violet said she didn't want to get her sisters involved. When I saw the call came from the Cerulean gym..." Mayor Antilles trailed into silence in his usual submissive nature. He wasn't supposed to say that.

"Violet is there? She made it safely?" Misty was quick to inquire urgently.

"Oh yes," the mayor looked very stressed. "I'm afraid I cannot converse for long. There is much to be done in preparation to find my son. A friend has already sent someone to help." He looked meaningfully at Delia. Giovanni must already be aware that Kenobi was missing and sent someone to find him. "I deeply apologize, I must go. I have managed to talk Violet into waiting here. She had a bit of a run in with the police over her speed- Oh no, I'm sorry, please forget I ever mentioned it. I assure you her record is perfectly clean. I saw to it myself, I am the mayor after all," he sounded a little proud that he could at least do something. The legality of it was very questionable, but no one would dare to question it.

Misty breathed in relief, "thank you. Please keep Violet safe." The use and abuse of political pressure was a topic she chose not to address.

"Of course!" Rune exclaimed, "you don't need to worry about anything. I will protect her as my own daughter. After all, perhaps someday she will be."

After their talk with the mayor, Ash and Misty could at least be reassured about Violet's safety. Delia still had her worries, Violet was very close to the heart of Team Rocket. She didn't think Violet knew about the involvement of the Viridian mayor with Team Rocket. It made her wondered for how long it could be kept a secret. Violet was dating the mayor's son, so the truth might be revealed to her eventually.

"At least Violet is alright, but there's still no word from Lily and Daisy. Things are so complicated right now," Misty would have never guessed her family would get mixed up in such complex and dangerous situations.

"Maybe we should check the news, they might be saying something," Ash suggested. He turned on the TV and changed the channels looking for a news program. He didn't find anything playing at the time though.

Growing impatient, Misty thought of something, "we should try the Kanto News website. Let me go get my laptop." Misty went to get the device and returned, sitting on the couch. Delia and Ash were sitting left and right of Misty, watching the screen. The wallpaper showed a picture of Ash and Misty on a picnic. Ignoring the posted comments and advertisements, Misty clicked on the latest video featured on the site's main page.

The news anchor, Ameda, narrated while different images were shown on the screen. "To everyone's shock this morning, all of the facilities owned by Ackbar Inc. were closed. Neither employees nor clients are being allowed in." A video of confused and worried people gathered in front of closed gates was shown. "The young Mr. Ackbar recorded a short message and sent it to our station. Let's watch..."

The image on the screen changed to Lando. The background showed an aquarium he had at his mansion. He sat on a wooden chair, carved in detail as if the material could be melted and shaped. It had sand colored cushions to sit on and on the backrest. "As I'm sure many of you know, my father was tragically murdered recently. I will not allow this injustice to go unpunished. Until these matters are resolved, Ackbar Inc. will cease all operations. Until then, I must ask for my employees and clients' patience."

When Lando's message ended, the image returned to the news studio. Ameda continued, "Mr. Ackbar has not replied to our continued requests for an interview. Ackbar Inc. is the number one producer for human and pokemon medical supplies in Kanto. The future of the hospitals and Pokemon Centers in Kanto remains uncertain. Ackbar Inc. possesses exclusive right to distribute several vital human and pokemon medical products in Kanto. Our neighboring region of Johto has decided to respect the condition and refused to sell supplies in Kanto. The other regions have had similar reactions."

"This is bad," Misty's worry grew, "what's going to happen when the hospitals and Pokemon Centers run out of supplies?" She couldn't believe her sister's fiance would go so far to pressure for revenge. "The lives of many will be put in danger if something isn't done soon! What do Tempest or Team Rocket care if Kanto collapses? How could Daisy be okay with this?"

Delia sighed sadly, "she loves him," she voiced softly. "She sees what he's doing, but from his point of view. Sometimes, when something is done for the sake of your loved one, it's easy to forget the effect it may have on the world."

Misty grew silent and tried to put herself in her sister's shoes. If someone hurt Delia and Ash wanted justice, would she let him pursue it by any means? Would she stand by him if he hurt others to uncover the culprit? Perhaps she too would be blinded by sorrow anger and frustration. "I think I understand."

"How could you understand?" Ash didn't quite comprehend how Lando and Daisy could ignore the consequences of paralyzing the medical supply industry.

"Ash, if someone," Misty paused as she felt a cold chill run down her spine, "if someone hurt me or your mom. You would want to bring them to justice, right?"

"Of course I would! That's what I've been thinking all along. Tempest needs to be taught a lesson!" Ash jumped to his feet from the living room couch. "We should be out there hunting down Tempest. They attacked mom and Giovanni. They tried to steal from the Pokemon Center. They're the ones that started all of this when they attacked Vermilion!"

"Ash, that's not what I-" Misty tried to stop him, but Ash was determined. She didn't mean for him to react like that.

"You can't just barge in!" Delia insisted. "Tempest is dangerous, you could be killed! What matters right now is that we talk Lando into resuming Ackbar Inc.'s normal operations and not picking a fight with Team Rocket."

"Alright, I understand," Ash clenched his fists in frustration. It was clear that he was not okay with accepting the inaction. He wanted to take control of the situation.

"Let's call Lily again," Misty could feel the tension around Ash building up. She hoped that her sister had at least made some progress. She hoped that Lando was getting ready to give a new message at that very moment. She hoped for the safety of all those she cared for. The video phone showed a message indicating the unit was deactivated. "Lily has her phone off. I'll try calling Daisy." Misty gave it some time, but the ringing was endless and unanswered. "Daisy must have left her phone somewhere. Let's try Lando's number," the tension and uncertainty build up every time the phone rang.

"Ackbar residence," a woman with a marked accent answered the phone. She sounded as if that was not her first language. The device was set to voice only.

"Hi, it's Misty, Daisy and Lily's sister. I really need to speak to them right away," Misty waited in suspense. She had to talk to her sisters. If Daisy wanted to, she could convince Lando to rethink his actions.

"Ah no, apologies miss," the maid replied, "the master and the ladies are not here. I take a message, yes?"

"Where did they go?" The urgency was evident in Misty's voice.

"I do not know," the maid nervously replied. The entire Ackbar mansion staff was on edge with the current situation.

"This is important!" Ash insisted loudly. "We need to talk to them right now!" He demanded.

The maid let out a little frightened yelp, "apologies, apologies, I do not know."

Misty sighed in exasperation, "it's okay, it's not your fault. If they return or contact you, tell them to call my cell phone immediately."

"Yes, yes," the maid hurriedly agreed, "call Misty, yes? I will give the message."

"Thank you," Misty ended the call and got up. "I'm going to find them." She had made her choice; she couldn't sit still any longer.

"I'm with you!" Ash announced. He was tired of waiting around for things to improve.

"Wait you two, this is dangerous. I know you have to go since Misty's sisters are in the middle of everything, but please don't lose sight of the dangers," Delia reminded, her tone was worried, almost desperate.

"Don't worry mom, we'll be careful," Ash assured. "I'll call you later. Maybe you should stay here for now. We've been in difficult situations before, not like this but don't worry, everything will work out."

"That's what I thought," for a long time, but not anymore, "it's not always like that. Don't lower your guard." Delia was reminded of the day when Ash started his pokemon journey. 

Ash had called her from the Viridian City Pokemon Center after his first day on the road. She mentioned that it had taken his father three days to get there. It was true, three days of speedy get aways with Saffron City as the starting point. She tried to offer him some encouragement, but Ash didn't seem to respond too well. Her comfort wasn't enough for once. Plus the ambiguous image of a man who didn't exist beyond stories of adventures didn't have much to offer.

She had encouraged him a little more and smiled sweetly. She seemed distracted, too cheery. Then she ended the call before he could see her mask fall. She stared at the blank monitor for a long time. "Please," she wished with all her heart as a tear rolled down her face, "be safe."

The stories about the many different people Ash met soon reached Delia when he called her. His encounters with Team Rocket held a prominent place in Ash's narrations. Even so, he sounded happy. He was truly enjoying his journey and he had made good friends. He knew nothing of her past connections with Team Rocket. Jessie and James, the Rockets trying to steal Pikachu, were also unaware of who Ash truly was. Delia thought that maybe her connection with Team Rocket had finally dissolved in time. It had been over a decade, yet the connection could never truly disappear.

Delia walked with Ash and Misty to the door and watched them take a taxi. She followed the yellow car with her eyes until it was out of sight. She didn't know what to do, she couldn't simply sit and wait.

"Delia?" A sudden voice caught her attention after Ash and Misty were gone. 

A red haired woman Delia had not seen in a long time approached the Cerulean gym's front entrance, "Ariana?"

"It's good to see you again; do you have time to chat?" It was obvious that Ariana wasn't referring to a simple friendly chat. 

"Yes, come in," Delia had many things to ask. They went to the gym's living room and sat down with suspense in the air. "What happened? Is Team Rocket planning to do anything about Ackbar? If only Lando can understand that the Vermilion attack was Tempest's fault everything can be solved. Then Ackbar Inc. can keep functioning normally. Kanto needs their medical supplies! Where's Giovanni? What is he planning?"

Ariana raised her hands for Delia to slow down, "calm down. Don't throw so many questions at me at once."

Delia took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, this is no way to greet you after such a long time. So many things are happening; I need to understand what's going on right now."

"Archer is taking care of things with Ackbar. He might still be video conferencing with Bane's son right now," Ariana explained. "Since Giovanni is away, Arch is running things while this mess is sorted out. Giovanni said he would end the Tempest problem himself. I wouldn't worry too much, he can be reckless when pushed, but not stupid. Besides, Proton is with him."

Delia nodded, she felt relieved knowing that negotiations were taking place. "Then there will be a peaceful resolution to the Ackbar situation?"

"It depends on how you define peaceful," Ariana chuckled knowingly, "no heads will roll if that's what you're asking. They will be punished for their doubts and disloyalty, but it will be more about business control and economical resources. Team Rocket will have more control over the company now, but things should run smoothly from the public's perspective. If it makes you feel any better, we can't afford to execute anyone right now. The enemies will be blamed for the disasters and sent to jail. It brings back memories, doesn't it?"

"Yes, if all goes well, history will repeat itself in a way," Delia paused, realizing what she was saying. "That might not be such a good thing, let's say things might work out better than before."

"You're still full of hope I see," Ariana smiled as if reminiscing of the past. They had not been as close as Delia became to Leah, Aayla, Luke and Binks, but Delia was friends with Ariana, Archer, Proton and Petrel years ago. "You really put him on edge you know."

"Giovanni?" Delia looked puzzled, "he sent you here, didn't he? He told you it was alright to talk to me."

"Yes, I guess he still trusts you in his own way, maybe without realizing it." Ariana mused. "Giovanni hasn't taken matters into his own hands so directly in years. Arch thinks something happened to overload him, so to speak. He wants to get this over with and it's not simply because of Kanto."

"Do you really think so?" Delia felt a little better hearing that, but at the same time worried. "He seemed relatively calm, too calm. I tried to be patient, but a bottled up reaction is still a reaction. If my news threw him over the edge and made him all reckless, I'm glad!" Ariana laughed and Delia corrected herself, "that didn't come out right. What I mean is that maybe giving him something to think about caused him to want to rush things along. I noticed that he was curious about Ash, but I wasn't sure if he would just let everything go after a while. Maybe everything did overwhelm him, I'm glad to know he's still human enough to be overwhelmed and do something rash." Delia shook her head, "that doesn't sound right either. I'm glad he can still trust me a little. I'm glad he's not indifferent towards us, you know what I'm trying to say."

"I think so," Ariana was both puzzled and curious. She leaned back on the couch and got comfortable for a long talk. Her mission was simple, 'stop Delia from doing something crazy' that was how Giovanni phrased it. "There is something I don't understand. Who is Ash? First I hear he's suspected to be with the enemy and then we're supposed to leave him out of this. Other than a past Indigo League champion, who is he?"

"Giovanni didn't tell you?" Delia paused, unsure of what to say. 

"He didn't have time for a long talk," Ariana replied, "he just told us that Ash was not the enemy and that he was to be kept out of this."

Delia resolved that it would be alright to explain things, "he's our son."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 60: Give me Insight

A dark blue limousine quickly made its way through the roads traveling from Vermilion to Viridian. Inside the vehicle, the wireless video conference system was communicating with the Viridian Team Rocket base. The screen showed Archer's image with a serious expression. "Is this offer appropriate, Mr. Ackbar?"

Daisy scooted closer to her fiance and Lily moved closer to her sister. Lando shifted uncomfortably as he tried to bravely speak. If the second in command was this intimidating on a screen, he certainly wished he never had to meet the boss in person. How did his father deal with this? "Sir, those terms are worse than the previous terms you offered."

"You seemed displeased with my previous offer and refused it," Archer reminded, his gaze was sharp and strong. "I offered new terms, are you rejecting them as well?"

"I would be powerless to have any control over the company by those terms," Lando stated, he wanted to refuse, but a worse offer might be made instead.

"Indeed, however, you would still be an ally of Team Rocket as far as the underworld goes," Archer emphasized the importance of that point with his tone. "This means that you would be able to live comfortably and safely. The dreadful happenings of Vermilion City will not be repeated without reason." You can't knock down someone who is already on the floor. Team Rocket would need to allow Ackbar to still have something, rather than nothing to lose.

Lando looked at Daisy. Her eyes were fixed on the screen, she couldn't look away. Lando didn't like that Daisy and Lily had insisted on being present during his conference with Archer. The Rocket executive had demanded that Lando went to Viridian City for the signing of a few documents immediately, with negotiations being conducted along the way. Such documents were not fully legal, but served as a way to keep clear records of agreements. Lando knew he had no choice and the Waterflowers refused to let him do this alone. "Very well, I will accept your terms," so much for war. In the end, he had to put safety first. If anything happened to Daisy and her family, he wouldn't be able to live with it.

"I knew you would see things my way," Archer looked confident, as if he had no doubts of how the situation would turn out. "I will await your arrival, use discretion." The screen went blank.

Lando, Daisy and Lily let out a collective breath. "Well, that like wasn't so bad," Daisy sighed.

"Not so bad? Daisy, dearest, I'm on my way to an unofficial early retirement," Lando frowned.

"I'm just glad they didn't like put a price on your head. Lily was right, we like got caught in the rush of the moment and acted in a dangerous way," Daisy admitted, the reality of what Lando had done finally sunk in.

"I'm so sorry to put you through all this, I'm not worthy," Lando dramatized tragically.

Daisy shook her head, "it's alright. It's over now. Don't look at it as forced retirement. You'll still be like the president in the eyes of the public. You'll still need to like take care of public relations and you'll still get a salary. The difference is that you'll have more free time!" The worse had passed and the situation was starting to stabilize as far as they knew. Daisy smiled, trying to encourage her fiance.

"Then I'll have more time to spend with you!" Lando cheered. "Maybe this really isn't so bad after all." The couple looked at each other lovingly, lost in their own little world.

Lily sighed bitterly. "It must be nice," she mused aloud. Her last break up had been very difficult, just when she thought she found the one. Daisy had found her prince charming and so had Violet and Misty. Upon thinking of Violet, Lily wondered how she was doing. "Do you think Violet is alright?"

Daisy gasped and returned to reality, "oh no, Violet. We need to like apologize; we both said some things we didn't mean." Daisy searched for her cell phone but couldn't find it. "I must have left my phone in Lando's house."

"I'm on it," Lily held up her little pink cell phone. She had it off before. She hit the speed dial for Violet and waited, but her phone was off. "She has her phone turned off. But we know she's in Viridian, she like should be there by now."

"You should find your sister while I take care of business. I don't think they'll allow you into the Rocket base anyway. It's already bad enough that you know they have an important base at Viridian," Lando looked at the Waterflowers seriously, especially at Daisy. "I don't want you to get involved more than needed.

"I don't want to like make anyone mad by being there, but I can't let you face this alone either," Daisy was full of determination. "Besides, we are like engaged to be married! Sooner or later I'll have to learn about the mafia, I'll be a part of it too." 

"Daisy!" Lando gasped full of emotion. "How could I accept such a thing?" He looked into her eyes. 

It was clear that she was full of determination, "don't you trust me?" Daisy's look intensified.

"I trust you," Lando firmly stated, with his face becoming serious. "I will not stop you from learning about the family business if that is your wish. I greatly appreciate your support." His serious expression shifted to moved, "oh Daisy, my darling, how I love you!"

"I love you too!" Daisy exclaimed. The couple shared a loving embrace.

Lily pouted and scooted away from her sister. "When is it going to be my turn?" She wondered.

"However," Lando continued, "this once I will handle things alone. When we get to Viridian City you must find your sister. Later, after all this chaos passes, we can think about your role in all of this. Eventually I will be able to meet with Lord Roketto in person for the first time. My father always handled such meetings in the past. I believe it is best to ask for formal permission before I tell you more. I am very sorry for keeping you waiting, but it is for your protection."

"It's alright," Daisy smiled in understanding. "Lily and I will leave as soon as we enter Viridian City. Then after the formalities are done, we can like talk about everything else. All of this will be kept in like total secrecy, so don't worry. We won't tell anyone, right?"

"Of course not!" Lily assured. "We're like great at keeping secrets."

xoxox xox xoxox

The Saffron mayor's office was just as dark and red as always. The leaders of Tempest entered the office and found Madame at her desk, shrouded in shadows as they had seen her before. Her Ninetales, was out of her pokeball. Instead of sitting regal and ferocious at her side, Nien sat with her head on Madame's lap. Madame petted the pokemon gently, as if soothing her. "What brings you here?" Her voice was authoritative, yet relaxed.

"I've heard that a certain person has been here," Bollux paused, observing Madame's unchanged face. "I am referring to the one known as Akira."

"Ah yes, quite the little troublemaker," Madame chuckled. "You need not worry about her."

Bollux cut to the chase, "we want her as our prisoner." Bollux was often seen as the Tempest leader. He was part of the original Tempest Gang. He had light green hair and matching eyes. The woman known as Poisona secretly acted as the leader, retreating into a position of second in command when she felt she was too obvious. Some said that Poisona was the true Tempest leader, but for some reason didn't want to appear as such. Perhaps it was to avoid being directly targeted by enemies. 

Poisona was constantly at Bollux side, as if needing to supervise and approve his actions. It made her stand out, even if she didn't want to. There were rumors that she was the sister of the past leader, Venom. Her hair was a light tone of lavender and her complexion similar to that of Venom. Only a few still remembered the past leader, the few that still had energy to seek revenge after getting out of jail. The most notable similarity between Poisona and Venom were their stunning red eyes.

"For what purpose?" Madame inquired with perfectly faked curiosity. She assumed that their plans involved using Akira's fame against Team Rocket, since she was known to be an agent. They could be planning to keep pushing the police to take action.

"As a hostage and to use her reputation against Team Rocket," Bollux explained, while Poisona remained silent at his side. "The police seemed to back off when the entire Ackbar hiatus situation was announced. No other message has been issued from Ackbar since then. As far as we know, the medical supply industry will remain paralyzed indefinitely," Ackbar Inc. would soon resume its normal functions, but only a few directly involved people knew that at the time.

"I don't know," Madame sighed in disappointment. "All this time I sheltered you," she watched them and hindered their operations while pretending to help. "I tried to help you at the risk of my noble reputation as the mayor," she used them for her own benefit, while remaining as the secret mayor no one dared to challenge. "I even introduced you to some powerful allies who wished to betray Team Rocket." She turned the two groups into one so that it would be easier for Team Rocket to take them out at once. She knew they would be overpowered even together. 

Madame didn't interfere too much; she still allowed some trouble to slip by. It would be no fun if she did everything. When things got out of hand, she sent a list to her hidden ace, Miyamoto's daughter. The list was collected by her spies inside Team Rocket. Far from causing trouble, they were loyal agents in every other aspect. Miyamoto had been a magnificent agent as well, one without equal in Madame's opinion. She shifted in her chair and continued petting Nien. "I'm starting to feel as if my efforts are wasted on you. Will you ever get revenge on that terrible man who stole so many things from me?" It was all a lie and Tempest believed it.

"We will give you Kenobi Antilles in exchange," Poisona finally spoke. Bollux looked at her in surprise and disapproval. A discrete glance from Poisona put him in his place and he tried to emulate her confidence.

Madame smiled, though her suspicions were strong. The deal was far too convenient and nothing in life came that easy. Even so, the opportunity was too good to pass up. "Very well," thus it was decided.

Poisona had come prepared; she looked at Bollux who took action. He contacted someone on a cell phone, "bring him in."

Madame pressed a button on the intercom, "bring Akira."

A silver haired man in a dark red tuxedo entered the office a couple of minutes later. He was carrying Akira who was unconscious.

Soon after, two other men arrived at the office. One had short dark green hair and bronze eyes. He was wearing a large trench coat with his hands suspiciously in his pockets fingering a hidden gun. The other looked much more like a man of high society; he was the son of Rune Antilles. Kenobi had dark hair and bright green eyes. He didn't know how important it may be to keep him alive, so he didn't take any chances disobeying his captors.

The hostages were exchanged without casualties. The Tempest members left with their new hostage. Even after they were gone, Kenobi shifted uncomfortably, not knowing were he stood in the situation.

"It's alright now, you are safe," Madame spoke.

Kenobi breathed in relief, "thank you! I will be sure to reward you for your kindness mayor..."

"You may call me Madame," she smiled in amusement watching as the young man tried to allow the notion of safety to sink in. "Now sit, I will call for some tea and cookies. Someone should be here to escort you home soon."

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Cerulean gym, Ariana couldn't hide her surprise, "your son, as in yours and Giovanni's?" She was overcome with a fit of shock induced laughter. "Let me guess? He took it relatively calm and collected, right? You know he's always like that. You used to get so annoyed because of it," when arguing about pokemon experimentation and stealing from good trainers.

"You heard us back then? Well I guess everyone did, but no one mentioned it." Delia couldn't help it but to laugh too as she remembered old times. The memories were bittersweet, but she held them dear. "That's why I said I was glad. Maybe Giovanni really does have too much to think about right now. I know I should be glad he took it calmly; it's just that it makes him so hard to read. Ash doesn't know who his father is. Things are too complicated right now, so we agreed to deal with that later," Delia revealed. "I don't know how that will be done though," her momentary cheer evaporated.

"If Ash was raised by a goody-goody outside of Team Rocket, I suppose finding out his father is the boss would be a shock," Ariana mused aloud. She honestly couldn't imagine it. "I have a son too," she revealed, he looks more like me than his father, but that was some time ago."

Delia's interest was instantly captured by curiosity, "Archer?" She gave a small smile, trying to stay somewhat hopeful despite the uncertainty in the air.

"Yeah, we're still together," Ariana smiled sincerely, but her expression soon turned sour, "our son is not around anymore."

Delia's face was invaded by sadness, "you mean he's," she dared not finish.

"Oh no," Ariana shook her head and chuckled, "I'm sure he's very much alive. He's just not in the team anymore. For some time Giovanni tried to train him to help him run Team Rocket. That boy didn't know what was good for him. He was too much of a rebel and ended up running off. He picked fights with random trainers and even with Rocket agents. He stole pokemon and other things. He was always getting into trouble. After some time passed he started to tone things down a little. I'm not sure what he's doing right now, but at least he's not picking a fight with Team Rocket anymore. I guess he eventually learned that he can't take on the world with just his pokemon. Giovanni was relatively lenient with the situation. I guess it's because Archer and I were doing good jobs."

Delia closed her eyes for a moment, taking in all the information and picturing it. Maybe Archer and Ariana's son didn't belong in Team Rocket. Perhaps it took all that conflict to make him realize what he wanted. Delia opened her eyes and breathed deeply. She had never met him, so she shouldn't be theorizing so much. "Do you miss him?"

"Sometimes," Ariana admitted, "but never mind that. It's been a long time, there's a lot of things we need to talk about," she tried to change the subject into something comfortable and casual.

"Is there something else you can tell me about where Giovanni went?" Delia brought up the question again. As much as she wanted to have a nice relaxing chat with Ariana, the time was not right.

"Something about a duel in the world's edge, but nothing to worry about," Ariana voiced calmly and Delia's eyes shone with interest. "I can't let you go anywhere," Ariana reminded.

"Shall we decide it in a battle?" Delia unexpectedly suggested. She was full of both determination and doubt. "If I can't win, then I doubt I would be able to do anything anyway."

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Tempest hideout in Saffron City, Comet was hard at work cleaning. He let out a breath and observed his work. 'Rockets are super clean compared to these slobs.' He was not well received after his apparent failed mission at the Cerulean City Pokemon Center and was punished for it. As for the mission, the mysterious Saffron City mayor gave him, it was quite simple: 'make sure they don't kill Giovanni.' She had sent him away after that, refusing to discuss the matter further. Comet had already reported everything to headquarters.

"Are you done cleaning the hide out, rookie?" The manager of the illegal pokemon battles roughly asked. "If not because the mayor recommended you, I would-"

"Yes sir, I apologize again for the failure at the Cerulean City Pokemon Center. Give me another chance, I won't disappoint you." Comet managed to look truly apologetic and resist the need to punch that guy in the face.

"You've got some nerve thinking you're off the hook already," his bright yellow hair fell over his gray eyes as he glared. The man scolding Comet was the same one who managed the illegal battles at Saffron City. He was the same who had been at city hall when Comet was first there. He was known as Solo, though no one knew anything about him beyond that. "I bet you were the one whose clumsiness caused the others to get arrested!" Solo was one of the favorite agents of the Tempest leader. 

"I'm going to give you an easy mission that not even you can mess up," Solo growled, "watch the prisoner."

"Yes, sir!" Comet followed Solo down a dark corridor with many doors. Some were partially open and others were closed. The sounds of pokemon came from inside, those were storage rooms. It made Comet feel sorry for them. He liked battles, he even like the brutal battles of the secret illegal arena, granted that the pokemon fought willingly, like Purry. Hearing their cries outside of the rush of a fight didn't feel right.

"Here we are," Solo opened the last wooden door at the end of the hall with a key. The door was old and beaten, but it still held strong. A girl with cyan hair was tied to an old folding chair inside the dim room. There was only one flickering lamp directly above her. Her body was limp as if she would fall to the side if she wasn't tied to the rusted chair.

"Akira?" Comet recognized her right away. Her eyes were closed and she was motionless. She had to be alive; they wouldn't have her tied up like that if she wasn't. Ropes bounded her wrists behind her. Another rope around her waist kept her torso tied to the back of the chair. Her ankles were tied to the chair's legs.

"Yeah, the famous singer," Solo chuckled. "Surprising isn't it? I was shocked too." His expression changed back to a serious one. "Don't mess up, rookie. The boss seems to have plans for the girl. I think it was a stupid trade. I mean, she's famous, but that Antilles guy was rich too. Plus his father, the Viridian mayor, has more political power. This girl's just famous. At least she's good to look at, that's for sure."

"A trade? The Tempest boss traded the mayor's son for Akira?" Comet didn't understand the trade either. He would think having Kenobi would prove to be more beneficial. Akira was more famous, but Kenobi was a more prominent figure in terms of politics. With Kenobi they had mayor Antilles to threaten, but Akira didn't really have anyone in a high position that they could pressure. She was connected to Team Rocket, but so was Kenobi, surely they realized that. His exposure as part of Team Rocket would have been worse than her publicity if they played their cards right. "With who was the trade made?"

"With the Saffron City mayor," Solo revealed, "I don't know what she wants with Kenobi, or with us. She's one mysterious person. I'm pretty sure only the leader and his lady know more about her. They don't talk about it, but they must know something. Even they might not know too much though."

"I will guard the prisoner well, sir." For the time being, Comet would take Akira back into Team Rocket's custody. Then he would come up with a plan to find Kenobi. He was still unaware of the events that happened between Pewter and Cerulean, which resulted with Akira's injury and temporary arrest.

Solo laughed mockingly, "yeah this is about as much as you can handle, guarding an unconscious tied up girl." Solo left the dim room and disappeared when he turned at the end of the hallway.

'You keep thinking that,' Comet mused. He checked Akira's pulse. Her heart was beating regularly and her temperature seemed to be normal. She must have been given something to put her to sleep. They were in a basement so there were no windows. Tempest agents were all around so sneaking out was next to impossible. He would just have to come up with a distraction... that might be fun.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. The Goldeen Ash lets Misty keep at the Cerulean gym was given to him on Diamond 37. The story about the S.S. Lapras was elaborated on Diamond 32. Bollux, Poisona and Solo appeared in Diamond 53. Bollux is another Star Wars name and Poisona is a spell from Final Fantasy.


	17. Part 17

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 61: Give me Help

At the Saffron city hall a man wearing a dark red tuxedo made his way into the mayor's office. The secretary paid him no mind as he went in. He had silver hair and blue eyes. The scene he found at the office was most unexpected. His investigation led him to believe there was something going on with the Saffron City mayor. He had also seen suspicious people going in and out of city hall. Perhaps he could gain some information about Kenobi's location there. He didn't expect to find a dark haired young man sitting at the mayor's very red office drinking tea and eating cookies. That man was Kenobi. Most of all, he didn't expect the mysterious mayor to be Madame Boss.

Madame smiled victoriously, "hello there Petrel. Care to join us? Oh and by the way, next time, you don't need to knock out one of my men and disguise yourself as him. You can just come right in, dear," she mocked.

"I got caught by a security camera didn't I?" Petrel took off his wig and contact lenses in frustration. "I can't believe this! I need to ask for more field missions, I don't want to get out of practice with my disguises." 

"The disguise was fine, except for the part about being caught putting it on," Madame laughed.

Petrel looked at Kenobi, who seemed to be at a loss for words. "Madame saved me," he finally spoke. "She said someone would come for me soon."

"Do you know who she is?" Petrel inquired raising an eyebrow.

"The mayor of Saffron City," Kenobi initially replied, "but that's not all." He thought about it, "you know each other, but you were sneaking in. Is she our ally?" By 'our' Kenobi was secretly referring to Team Rocket.

"Let's just say the boss and his mother are not on speaking terms," Petrel left it at that.

Confusion was reflected in Kenobi's green eyes. "How is the boss' mother related to any of this?" Then the realization hit him as he caught sight of Madame's amused grin, "you are? She is?" He looked from Madame to Petrel and back again. They both nodded.

"Do you know anything about a list of traitors? Two agents that had been fired showed up with it. Doesn't that sound convenient?" Petrel gave Madame a suspicious look.

"Long ago I gave brat boy my resources because he no longer needed them," Madame recalled. "If my help was necessary and I gave it, I would just be getting in the way of brat boy reaching his potential. This time, I'm just helping speed things along towards a result that would have been the same anyway. That is all," Madame smiled. "As for the agents you speak of, they are unaware of who I am in relation to brat boy."

"I see," Petrel thought about it, Giovanni would be angry hearing Madame call him brat boy still. "Well, I guess I'll let things be for now, but I'll have to tell the boss. He won't be happy about this... interference."

"She was helpful!" Kenobi protested.

"That's really not the point," Petrel's tone of voice made it clear it was best to drop the subject. "Kenobi, we should return now."

"Ah, yes, it would be best to be on our way," Kenobi agreed. "Madame, thank you very much for your assistance."

"Too bad not everyone is as polite as you," Madame chuckled in amusement. "You're quite welcome my dear."

xoxox xox xoxox

After swiftly leaving Madame's office, Petrel reported the recent happenings to Archer. "Mission accomplished, I have Kenobi and I'm taking him back to Viridian City as we speak." The car they were in was purple to match Petrel's hair. It had a red R bumper sticker, though it wasn't too big so it didn't stand out. Petrel kept an eye out for pursuers as he drove, but there weren't any.

Kenobi was still unaware of the Waterflowers' involvement in the recent events. He hardly knew anything of what had been happening in Kanto during his captivity. He assumed Violet was safe in Cerulean City; he had no reason to think otherwise. He wondered if his kidnapping had been made public. He hoped not, he didn't want to worry Violet. It was inevitable to worry his father; he had to know he had been missing. Kenobi would think of something to tell Violet later and apologize for his lack of communication recently. He had not called her in a long time. It was best to sort things out and call when he had the time to properly talk to her.

"Good, that's one less think to worry about, I'll let Rune know," Archer's voice came from Petrel's little black cell phone, with a shiny red R. "It seems things are running smoothly so far. All that's left to do is capture the enemy, hand them to the police to take the blame and conduct some public relations here and there. Soon we will make it as if nothing happened," if Giovanni's plan worked. He intended to take care of Tempest directly. 

"There's more," Petrel got ready to report the most interesting piece of information he had found. "The suspicions about the Saffron mayor being involved with the enemies were true, but it seems she was using them. She was just messing with them and possibly with us. She was the origin of the traitor list Jessie and James brought, but they don't know that. The mysterious Saffron mayor is Madame Boss."

"Giovanni's mother?" Suddenly Comet's report made a lot more sense to Archer. "Let's allow Giovanni to focus on his mission for now, we'll give him the report afterwards. We don't want to anger him and throw him out of focus. I guess dealing with this detail will be part of the aftermath clean up. Do you think she'll be troublesome for now?"

"I don't think so," Petrel replied with a hint of doubt. "She handed Kenobi over easily enough. It doesn't look like I'm being followed or anything. I never did understand Madame. Maybe Giovanni's the only one who can figure her out."

Archer disagreed, "I don't think anyone can. There's a lot to do, but for now let's focus on one thing at a time. Return to headquarters and we'll decide what to do from there."

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia and Ariana stood on opposite sides of the Cerulean gym's battle arena. The large pool was filled with crystalline water. The water was still, yet not truly calm, as if it had no room to move with all the tension in the atmosphere. "Two on two," Delia requested.

Ariana nodded from the other side of the water themed arena. She looked confident, "fine by me."

"We don't have much time," win or lose, Delia wanted to get things done as fast as possible. If she couldn't win, she would think of what to do then. If she won, she would need to be on her way. With a look of determination, Delia released her two pokemon, "Cloyster, Kingler!" Both pokemon emerged from the red beams of their respective pokeballs simultaneously. They landed comfortably in the welcoming water of the pool. The liquid shifted when the two pokemon splashed in, but soon became still again as they floated. "We'll battle with both pokemon at the same time," Delia had battled like that especially often immediately after the Viridian Gym take over, when Kanto was cleaned of other gangs. 

Ariana released two of her pokemon from their pokeballs, Weavile and Honchkrow appeared. Honchkrow flew above the water out of reach with Weavile on his back. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Absolutely!" Delia had no time to doubt, she needed to believe she could win. "Cloyster, Kingler, water gun together!" The two water pokemon were unsure. Giovanni wasn't there to scare them into listening and they still had their doubts about Delia. Would she leave them again? "Cloyster, Kingler, please!"

"It looks like they won't listen to you," Ariana shook her head in disapproval. "You've been gone too long and it seems you didn't leave enough of an impression to make them listen. This battle is mine," Ariana sent her pokemon on the attack. "Honchkrow use trickery!" 

Cloyster and Kingler sunk under the water to protect themselves against Honchkrow's attacks. "Cloyster, Kingler, you have to fight back!" Delia called out to them, but they still wouldn't listen. They just sunk deeper until they were safe at the bottom of the pool. Bubbles rose up from their location as they discussed something in their language. They were probably debating what they should do, if they should truly give Delia another chance or not.

"Perfect," Ariana looked victorious. As she expected, the battle would be over soon. "Keep them underwater Honchkrow, Weavile use ice beam, full power!"

"You can't freeze them in there!" Delia realized what was going on.

"I can and I will!" Ariana laughed. "It seems you've lost, but don't take it too badly. Maybe with some training you might reach the potential you used to have."

"What I need is to regain the trust I used to have," Delia argued back. "Cloyster, Kingler, I'm sorry I left you like that. I honestly thought you would be better off if you stayed at the gym. Even if it wasn't my place, I thought it could still be yours. I didn't know that you would end up so neglected. Please forgive my misjudgment, I'm here now and I'm willing to earn your trust again from the beginning."

Cloyster and Kingler were heading to the surface of the pool trying to break the sheet of ice that formed. Ariana could not allow them that chance, "Honchkrow, confuse ray, Weavile, hurry up with that ice beam!" Her two pokemon obeyed.

The beam of perplexing dark light could be seen past the sheet of ice that didn't shield the water pokemon's minds. They were already doubtful, which made them vulnerable to the confusion. Cloyster and Kingler swam around under the sheet of ice. They occasionally bumped into it and each other, pushing each other away. Weavile was starting to look tired, but the beam of ice didn't cease. Ariana's pokemon kept freezing the pool, the sheet of ice becoming thicker and deeper.

"Cloyster! Kingler!" Delia desperately called out to them. "This is hopeless," she realized. "Ariana, I give up, you won the battle."

With a cunning look Ariana refused to accept the end of the battle, "I'm not going to stop."

"I already gave up, that's enough!" Delia insisted.

"I said I'm not stopping," Ariana stood firm by her choice.

"Cloyster, Kingler, return!" The red beams from the two pokeballs reached towards the ice, but didn't go past it. "Return!" Delia jumped off the trainer platform and on to the frozen pool. She tried to use the pokeballs again at close range, but it still didn't work. "Cloyster, Kingler, I'll get you out of there!"

Honchkrow and Weavile screeched at Delia as if telling her to go away. They were trained not to stop attacking until their trainer said so. No one could get in their way. "I think you should get out of the battle field," Ariana advised.

"No way, this battle is over, Cloyster and Kingler shouldn't still need to fight. Bending the rules a little is one thing, but this is cheating," Delia argued. "If that's how you want it, I'll cheat too." She took off her shoe and threw it. The shoe hit Honchkrow on the beak. "You two back off or you'll have to deal with me!"

"You don't stand a chance!" Ariana warned, she sounded serious, yet with an undertone of amusement. 

"I don't care, I have to try!" Delia pounded on the ice with all her might, trying to break it.

"So that's how it is," a real smile formed on Ariana's face. She recalled Weavile and Honchkrow back into their pokeballs before they could seriously attack Delia.

"I'm sure this ice has to break, it's not cold enough in here to maintain it," Delia kept hitting the ice. "I won't ask you to battle for me if you don't want to. If you do, I'll trust you with my very life and I'll take good care of you." 

The two pokemon under the ice finally lost their confusion and struggled together to get out. The ice began to break until they made a hole in it and climbed out. 

"Cloyster, Kingler, will you give me another chance?" They were willing to; Delia didn't need to speak their language to know that. "Thank you, I know this is too much to ask for, but the Giovanni we used to know still exists. Will you help me find him again?"

The two water pokemon could see that Delia's intentions and determination were true. They nodded in unison, voicing their agreement together. Delia hugged them both.

"So you're still going?" Ariana inquired, though she didn't wait for an answer. "I thought as much. You're not one to give up easily. You still have a strong determination and you're willing to break the rules if needed. Alright, let's go, Giovanni might need some help after all. You two somehow have a way of bringing out each other's wild side, no doubt about it."

"Ariana..." Delia was surprised by the turn of events. She expected Ariana to put up more of an argument. In the end, the executive couldn't stand by without directly helping Team Rocket. Delia immediately agreed, "yes, we should hurry to the world's edge."

Ariana grinned, "on one condition..."

xoxox xox xoxox

Later at Saffron City, Ash and Misty were wandering through the streets. A stream of suspicious rumors that they couldn't ignore took them there. "Do you really think we'll find out anything useful here?" Misty asked impatiently. She felt she should be trying to locate her sisters.

"There has to be a cause for all those rumors," Ash reasoned. After taking buses and taxis, it was the evening and they still haven't found much beyond rumors. "I know we're going to find something, I can feel it!"

Misty sighed. She found herself remembering the odd looks Ash got due to his messy hair. "Ash, this is a wild Farfechd chase." She finally had enough.

"No it's not, I told you I can feel that something will happen, trust me." Ash was in the middle of persuading Misty to trust his instinct when he spotted a familiar pokemon. "Is that...?"

Misty looked in the direction Ash was pointing and saw the Meowth. She was easily recognizable due to her war zone appearance. It was obvious she had been in many tough battles. "No way," Misty couldn't believe it, but she knew it to be true. "I think you're right. Somehow I feel like I shouldn't be surprised. Trouble has a knack for finding you, or is it the other way around?"

"I don't know, but I'm not letting her get away!" Ash declared full of determination. "I have to catch that Meowth and ask her where she hid my hat!" He dashed towards Purry. 

Purry had gone into an alley between two buildings and headed towards a door on one of them. She was sure she saw Comet go in there earlier. 

"Stop right there!" Ash yelled at the top of his lungs. If his approaching footsteps haven't already given away his presence, his voice would have.

"So much for the element of surprise," Misty sarcastically commented.

"Give me back my hat!" Ash firmly demanded, ready to battle the Meowth for it. "Did that guy from Team Rocket take it? Are you his pokemon? I don't care, I'm catching you anyway. I'm getting my hat back no matter what!"

Purry hissed ready for battle. Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulders and stood defensively between the ferocious Meowth and Ash. The door that led to the Tempest hideout was suddenly opened. Solo stood there glaring at the noisy intruders in the alley, "what's all this commotion about?" He was wearing his Tempest uniform, with a green T clearly visible on his black shirt.

"Tempest!" Ash exclaimed, recognizing the uniform. "You see, Misty? I told you we would find something. Now we can take down Tempest." Ash was excited about it.

"Take us down?" Solo let a mocking laugh echo. He didn't want to make a big scene while Bollux and Poisona were out. To avoid attracting too much attention, he invited the suspicious trainers in. He had no intentions of letting them leave alive. "Feel free to step inside and we'll decide everything in a battle."

The invitation was obviously a trap; that was something that not even Ash could miss. Even so, he wasn't one to turn down a challenge. "I accept your challenge!" He agreed without a second thought.

"Ash," Misty paused, she wanted to get rid of Tempest as much as Ash did, if not more. She knew this was reckless, she knew it was a trap. Even with that knowledge she couldn't back down. They would take on the challenge together. She looked determined, "let's win this."

Ash and Misty were led inside, where they were surrounded by Tempest grunts. Purry followed them in. She decided to look for Comet first and battle that young man and his Pikachu later. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Comet was trying to devise an escape plan. He knew he would only get one chance. If he didn't succeed he would blow his cover and would make things difficult. He paced around the small underground room were Akira was held hostage. He had untied her from the chair, but she was still unconscious. After thinking about it, that was probably for the best.

"Meowth!" A familiar voice called out from the door. Comet opened it to see Purry. 

Comet heard voices not too far away. Commands were being shouted and a battle was taking place. "What in the world is going on?" He went to take a look. At the end of the hall, in the large room beyond, there was chaos. Too many pokemon had been released at once. A storm of fire, water and electricity was raging dominantly above the other attacks. Battling in such a relatively small space was dangerous. "Those two were in the Cerulean Pokemon Center before," Comet recognized Ash and his friend. "Did the boss send them?" He wondered, "there's no time to give it too much thought. Purry, give them a hand, you can fight without me. I want to stay and battle, but I have to take the opportunity to get Akira out of here."

"Meowth!" Purry understood. She ran towards the intense battle, slashing away at all who got in her way. It didn't take her long to identify which pokemon were allied to Tempest and attack them.

Comet carried Akira out of the room where she was kept. He paused at the hallway and remembered the story from when Team Rocket took over the Viridian gym. Why not help out a little? It wouldn't take too long. He set the unconscious Akira down and went to release the pokemon from their cages. The pokemon ran with no specific target in mind, they just escaped through the chaos.

Dodging stray fire balls, beams of water and bolts of electricity, Comet snuck out of the hideout. Leaving the chaos behind, he dashed out of the alley. He hurried to his car with the unconscious Akira. Once safely inside the 'chocolate bar', he reported back to Team Rocket. He made sure to keep Akira's arms and legs tied up so she didn't cause any trouble if she woke up. "This is agent Comet, reporting from Saffron City, I have Akira."

"Well done," the one who replied from the Viridian Headquarters was Archer. His face appeared in the video cell phone's tiny screen. "Bring her to Viridian right away. Make sure she doesn't escape and don't let anyone follow you."

"Yes, sir!" Comet replied a little too cheerful, but it came as no surprise to Archer. Comet was a good agent despite having the same carefree attitude Luke had been known for. "Did the boss send Ash and his friend to battle Tempest?" He had to ask.

"What?" Archer was intrigued by this new development.

"They were with him when Giovanni stopped Tempest from stealing at the Cerulean City Pokemon Center. Because of that, I thought he must have sent them," Comet explained.

'Giovanni, what are you doing?' Archer silently mused. His expression was thoughtful and analytical as he remembered the report he saw on TV about Ash defending Giovanni. "It's fine, let them proceed, just bring Akira here."

xoxox xox xoxox

Back at the Tempest hideout, the glimmer of a gun was caught in the dim light of the basement. Charizard roared and blasted it away with fire, melting it. All the attacks and commands blended into one. Ash's Charizard and Pikachu and Misty's Gyarados worked well together despite the limited space. The mysterious Meowth was helping too. She was very strong despite not having evolved yet. 

Pokemon ran by, as if they were wild, ignoring the humans. Some would get caught up in the attacks and others would rush by. Solo stepped away from the battle, leaving the rest of Tempest to fight without him. He was the one who invited the trainers in, but he didn't expect them to be so strong. He rushed to get the hostage and escape. Unfortunately for him, Akira was not where he left her and the one who was supposed to be guarding her had disappeared. He gave the rookie Tempest agent a useless job to mock him, but it all backfired.

xoxox xox xoxox

Jenny was patrolling the streets of Saffron City on her motorcycle. She saw a large group of seemingly wild pokemon heading in her direction. The pokemon spread out as they ran, but they seemed to be coming from the same place. It was an alley next to an apartment building. That was a troublesome area. 

The citizens who lived in that building were rumored to be involved in all sorts of illegal activities. The police had tried to investigate, but the people complained that their homes and privacy were being invaded without a reason. The result was a scolding letter sent to the police station from the mysterious Saffron mayor. After that, the police had to back off.

This was Jenny's chance to get some solid proof that there was something illegal going on. The pokemon running out were very suspicious to say the least. She hurried towards the alley and parked her motorcycle in front of it. She walked down the dark alley and found that the door at the end was falling off its hinges. Many loud noises were heard from inside. She carefully peeked in and found a massive battle, this would require backup.

Jenny stepped away from the door and called for backup. The police cars arrived swiftly but noisily. They had turned on their sirens as they rushed towards her location. They were eager to prove that they were right about that building. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Just when Solo thought things couldn't get any worse, he heard sirens outside. He rushed towards one of the storage rooms and found that the cages were open. All the pokemon had escaped. Cursing under his breath, he searched for a secret passage on the wall and revealed a thin tunnel with a hidden ladder. He quickly began to climb it, until he arrived at a secret room on the first floor.

The place was supposed to be an apartment building, but it was in truth the hideout of many criminals. Their illegal fields were varied and they all coexisted in secrecy since their businesses didn't often overlap. Solo hurried to the elevator and pressed the button to go to the top floor. The buildings on that street were close to each other. If he got to the roof, he could jump to another building and escape.

In the basement, Purry heard the police too. They must have been alerted by the noise and by all those pokemon rushing out. She loved battles and was enjoying the fight, but she knew it was time to leave. The strong Meowth rushed out and climbed up the wall in the alley. She escaped from the officers that were starting to gather there. With all the chaos, the Tempest grunts couldn't get away.

Jenny let her Arcanine out of his pokeball and charged in, "nobody move!" Nobody listened and the chaos continued.

A stray gun shot echoed, missing its target. "Who was that?" Ash searched for the armed enemy in the wild disarray. "Over there!" He spotted one of the Tempest grunts trying to take aim.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu let out another massive thunderbolt against the armed grunt. The electric attack also caught the pokemon and trainers next to him.

He dropped the gun and another enemy tried to pick it up. "No you don't," Misty noticed what was going on. She thought they had already gotten rid of all the weapons, "Gyarados, water gun!" Gyarados' water pushed away all the trainers and pokemon around the weapon, throwing them against a wall.

"Melt it, Charizard!" Ash pointed at the gun that was left on the floor. With a blast of fire it was rendered useless as the other weapons had been.

Jenny was feeling ignored and disrespected. She couldn't take this any longer, "we're going to need more reinforcements," she growled through clenched teeth.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 62: Give me Reunions

The dark blue limousine moved through blackness of the forest, away from the line of lamp posts provided by Pewter City. It felt as if the evening had become the middle of the night. That was the illusion caused by the sky being completely blocked by the lush trees.

The video conference system received an incoming connection. It was encrypted, as the previous one had been. It took a moment for the hardware to interpret the signal. Several seconds passed and the screen lit up. A Rocket grunt covered in shadows appeared on the screen with instructions. The directions were passed on to the driver as the screen went blank again. 

"Stop here," Lando nervously instructed. "It's so dark, maybe we should move closer to the city," he debated on what to do. His violet eyes looked clouded with doubt and worry.

"That's alright," Daisy decided. "Let's not make them angrier," she looked concerned as she opened the door and got off along with Lily.

"My darling, I can't abandon you in this wilderness!" Lando protested, even if the Waterflowers had been ordered to get off there. He knew he had to go to the Rocket base alone. Yet the forest was too dark, as if it hid a wicked secret.

"You're the one who's like going into the really dangerous place," Daisy quietly voiced. "If you're not back in an hour, I'll go save you!"

"My love, you mustn't!" Lando gasped dramatically. "Fear not my sweet. I will surely return one way or another, because I know you'll be waiting."

The couple was all sweetness and love, even in the face of danger. Lily didn't know if she should sigh happily or get jealous. She was truly happy for her sisters, but it was finally starting to sink in that she felt left out. Besides, she still wasn't fully over her ex. Daisy and Lando shared a kiss before they finally parted ways. 

The two Waterflower sisters started walking through the forest. They stayed on the side of the road to avoid getting lost. After a few minutes, the lights of an approaching limousine were seen. The vehicle was green; it was the Viridian mayor's official transport. The forest green limousine stopped next to Daisy and Lily. They were not worried since they recognized it. They expected mayor Antilles to have identified them as Violet's sisters and offer to give them a ride. He would probably ask why they were walking through the dark forest in the first place. They would have to come up with an excuse to avoid suspicion.

The door to the back of the limousine was opened by the one riding in it. It was not Rune Antilles. "Violet?" Lily was happily surprised to see her.

"Get in," Violet invited softly, not directly looking at Daisy. Seeing her sisters' doubt she elaborated, "Team Rocket knows I'm coming to pick you up." 

Daisy and Lily got in with shocked expressions and the driver turned back towards the city. "I'm so sorry," Daisy voiced.

"I'm sorry too, we shouldn't have argued like that. I was worried about Kenobi and you were worried about Lando," Violet acknowledged sadly. She looked at Daisy's regretful eyes.

"I should have put your feelings first. I should have told, no, I should have like demanded that Lando didn't go through with his plans. He's in trouble for it now. It was up to me to stop him, but I like couldn't, I foolishly encouraged him instead," a few tears escaped Daisy.

"It's okay," Violet hugged her older sister, "it's going to be okay. Everything will work out, I'm sure."

"What about Kenobi? How do you know about Team Rocket?" Daisy asked with real concern. Lily listened with attention, hoping that he had been found safely.

Violet looked calmer upon hearing the name, "he's fine. He's on his way here right now. I'll wait for him at his house and welcome him. That's where we're going now, the mayor is there too. We'll explain everything there."

xoxox xox xoxox

The Antilles' house was more so a mansion, but still much smaller than Giovanni's. Green was everywhere, since Rune loved the color so much. He would always say it was forest pride. Entering the residence was similar to entering an enchanted forest. Fake trees were on each corner with their branches extending over the ceiling. Shiny glass leaves hung from them reflecting the overhead lights. As a result, the leafy green carpet on the floor was filled with pale green dots of light. 

The first time Violet visited, she almost expected a miniature glowing Clefairy to pop out like in the story books. The green got old quickly, it was an overload, yet that first impression was memorable. 

The butler led the sisters to a large room with a 3D TV. Mayor Antilles was waiting there, watching the news. They shared a quiet greeting; their attention was mostly on the TV. The image projected Lando, giving a message about Ackbar Inc. He apologized for his behavior and assured that the company would continue functioning normally the next day. Daisy felt relief wash over her seeing the image. She took it as a sign that his meeting with the mafia was going as well as it could. 

After the message ended, the image changed back to the news station. Commentaries about the message were made, but that didn't hold the spectators' attention. "I'm glad you're all in good health," Rune smiled calmly. His son was safe and on his way. As far as he was concerned, the storm had passed. Giovanni would take care of the rest; he always found a way to make things work.

"You too," Daisy replied, returning the expression. "We like heard about Kenobi."

Lily nodded, "it must have been so hard, but he's like safe now, so the worse is over." She tried to look encouraging.

"Yes," Rune sighed in relieved exhaustion. "I've had a long last few days. I think it's finally alright to breathe calmly. Kenobi should be here soon. Then we can talk for a while and finish getting all the stress out of our system. I have already prepared rooms for everyone. I can't allow you to go on your way so late. You must spend the night over. Violet has already agreed."

Daisy didn't know how long Lando would take to negotiate. She had no intentions of leaving Viridian City until he was finished with his meeting. "Thank you for your hospitality. To be honest, I don't think I like have the energy to travel anymore tonight."

"Me either," Lily agreed.

"With all the recent happenings it's been quite stressful," Rune was glad that he at least had the Waterflowers' willing presence in Viridian until the next day. They were to remain until someone from the Rocket headquarters came to speak to them. Until then, Rune would try his best to clarify things. They could be on their way only after Archer said it was alright. Giovanni still had not returned and Archer was running things in his absence.

Daisy frowned, almost ashamed, "about that..." She wasn't sure how to phrase it.

"There's no need to worry," Rune assured. "I was afraid I would lose my son. My stress and fear nearly killed me, but I had to keep a calm face for the city. That made it even more stressful, it's a miracle I'm still here now. What I'm trying to say is that a bond between a father and son can be a very strong thing. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost Kenobi. I don't blame the young Mr. Ackbar for any of the things he did in his time of pain."

Daisy nodded with her eyes watery, "I hope everyone is that understanding."

"I'm sure they will be," Rune encouraged, though he had no way to ascertain his words.

"Dad, I'm back!" A familiar voice called out. Kenobi entered the large room as Violet stood up and ran to him. "Violet, you're here too and your sisters. I'm so happy to see you. I worried you, didn't I? I'm sorry; I wanted to take the time to talk to you. I wasn't sure if this was public."

"The fact that you were missing?" She hugged Kenobi who returned the embrace. "Of course I knew. It wasn't made public right away, but I was worried because you didn't call me." She was happy that he had returned in good health. "Don't disappear on me like that again."

"I won't," Kenobi smiled. Being kidnapped and held captive was a hard experience to forget. On top of everything, the details about Madame's intentions were still uncertain. He didn't know what would happen next; apparently he had missed a lot. For the time being that didn't matter, he was home and everything was alright. He pushed the worries and uncertainty away to focus on the bittersweet present. He was hiding so much from Violet.

"Kenobi," Rune smiled seeing his son in good health.

"Dad, sorry to have worried you. Are you alright? How's your health?" Kenobi shared a hug with his father.

"You're the one who was in danger and you're asking me?" Rune laughed to lighten the mood. He recognized the danger that being stressed presented to him and he didn't want to cause additional grief. "I'm fine now that you're back. Let's all take some time to talk; we have a lot to discuss."

xoxox xox xoxox

Comet arrived at the Viridian Rocket Headquarters. He drove in through a secret entrance where he was expected. Akira was still out like a light. Comet had a bad feeling and checked her vital signs several times along the way. She was breathing, her heart was beating at a normal rhythm and there was nothing unusual about her temperature. The only problem was that she wasn't waking up. 

Akira was immediately taken to the medical facilities. Laiki treated humans on occasion, despite her lack of formal training for it, so she had some experience. Comet went along and saw Laiki apparently hard at work reading from her computer along with Pixel, who had her own laptop open too. They were researching all kinds of things about Ash. He was the son of Delia Ketchum, the boss' ex. Curiously, after they checked out the birth registry with some hacking help from Prism, they found that his father was a mystery. Everything pointed towards the same conclusion, all the more reason to continue feeding their curiosity.

"Duty calls," Laiki got up from her desk after Akira was set down on a bed. Her legs were still tied, but Comet untied her hands from behind her to set her down on her back. The entire time he kept his guard up. He expected Akira to jump to life any second. Yet she was so still that if he had not checked her vital signs himself, Comet would think she was dead.

There were no surprised greetings, because somehow they knew Comet would be back alright, they believe that. "Guess what? I got Prism back!" Pixel proudly declared. "Archer, you know, the executive, offered to put me back on the tech team. I said I liked my current job better, but that I would keep it in mind for the future. I want to train more to become more skilled with technology and go on missions instead of staying here all the time. He said that as long as I was useful and loyal it was okay. Then he offered me a Porygon for my training, to become a better hacker. Imagine my surprise when the Porygon I got was Prism. I missed her."

"That's awesome!" Comet congratulated. He caught sight of the image on Laiki's computer and his expression changed to discomfort. "I didn't need to see that," The computer displayed a rather revealing picture of Ash.

"It's a fake," Pixel pointed out. "I've seen that body with at least three different heads. If you look closely, you can tell they didn't completely blend in the neck properly. The actor's head is perfectly handsome. I don't know why they had to decapitate him for fake fan service. Ever since some paparazzi ambushed Ash at the beach, there have been plenty of real shirtless pictures floating around the net anyway."

Comet walked over to Laiki's computer and clicked to close the image. "Hey!" Laiki looked up from her work of examining Akira's condition. "I wanted to save that. When the word gets out that the boss has a son, everyone will come to me to ask me about him. What will I show them?"

"It was a fake anyway," Comet reminded, pouting in annoyance. "Besides, wouldn't that get you into trouble? What do you mean he has a son? It's been officially confirmed?"

"Who cares if it's fake, it's hot," Laiki argued, while she listened to Akira's heartbeats. "As for official confirmation, close enough. It's basically a sure thing with all the connecting dots that have been found. Back on the topic of fake pictures, the other day I found a picture of the boss-"

"I don't want to know," Comet insisted.

"Well, I heard he works out a lot but that's not what I was going to say." Laiki argued with a pout.

"Really Laiki, you're starting to remind me of Purry," as far as Pixel knew, the Meowth was in love with the Rocket boss. In truth the one she liked was his Persian.

"I'm not sure what that's about, but let's get back on topic," Laiki continued, "it was a picture of the boss in his orange suit. Remember that suit? It was colored pink and had little red hearts all over it. That would get me into trouble, but it was hilarious!"

"Don't tell anyone," Pixel warned Comet, "if the boss gets mad and blows up the internet I'll die of boredom without it. Then my ghost will haunt you for the rest of eternity." She paused and turned her laptop around. "Look, I found the original picture with its original head."

"I didn't need to see that again." Comet decided not to try to continue the argument. 

"I also found some of those beach pictures of Ash," Pixel's finger were on the tiny analog stub, moving the little red R cursor on the screen. 

"You should see if that fan service picture of the boss," Laiki suggested, "the one from when some paparazzi snuck into his private gym and caught him boxing."

"I haven't seen that. You're kidding, right? Honestly, this is the boss you're talking about!" Pixel protested.

"I know," Laiki laughed, "the picture was probably disintegrated from the face of the internet. I have a copy on a password protected USB, I'll show you later," Laiki offered with a giggle. "Oh man, if the boss finds out, he'll have my head. I trust you guys to keep this all a secret. I don't want to end up like that paparazzi, rest in pieces."

Comet was about to ask if she meant rest in peace but instead requested. "I would appreciate it if you'd stop corrupting Pixel," Comet pouted, he happened to like Pixel. "I prefer the innocent Pixel who is only attracted to computers."

"I still find computers to be attractive," Pixel chimed.

"If she's only attracted to computers then she wouldn't be attracted to you," Laiki pointed out. She watched for Comet's reaction from the corner of her eyes. He didn't make a reply. Laiki didn't understand them. She certainly wasn't shy with any of her multiple boyfriends. She supposed that having Pixel deny her interest in Comet would discourage him to pursue her, at least until she got over her denial.

Instead of continuing the previous conversation, Comet warned, "you should be careful with Akira."

"I know," Laiki responded quietly, "but she can't escape when she's on the verge of death." She had gotten to work with a needle taking a small drop of black blood from Akira. She had analyzed it with her high tech equipment. She usually used it for pokemon samples, but it worked for humans too.

Laiki's statement caught the attention of both Comet and Pixel. "What do you mean? She's unconscious but she's still breathing."

The advanced medical technology had worked quickly on the small blood sample bringing the results of the test to light. "The test results are as I feared," Laiki announced. The previous momentary cheerful atmosphere had dissolved into a gloomy cloud more befitting of the situation.

"Her blood is black?" Comet was puzzled by that detail. "Is that the problem?"

"That's not the biggest problem," Laiki informed, "this substance is black, but it is indeed blood. It has all its components and who knows what else. I can't analyze it beyond that without taking a bigger sample," Laiki spoke solemnly.

"Why don't you?" Pixel inquired. "It's needed for a cure, right? I don't care what she might have done to others; she was nice to me because we're both Rockets."

"I understand and I suppose I have no choice," Laiki spoke sadly, "she has so little blood to give, her heartbeats are empty... There's mostly air in her veins, that's the only explanation. She can't move because only her brain is being fed oxygen, being kept alive. I don't know how it's possible for her to be alive with so little blood and for her heart to still beat regularly. Her body is dying, if that happens, her brain will not receive what it needs to function, then she'll be really gone."

"Can't we give her some blood?" Comet urged, "what's her blood type? She should have enough left to figure out that much." Akira was his friend too.

"That's not the problem; I got that information from my analysis just now. The truth is she never got an initial medical examination when she joined Team Rocket," Laiki recalled. "I found it odd, but thought little of it. I let it pass since she looked healthy enough. Maybe she was hiding this back then. That doesn't explain why she's so lacking in blood right now. According to the news she was injured when she was arrested. Then she escaped, she was well enough to run away. Then there's this," Laiki pointed to Akira's arms. There was a series of swollen dots, as if many needles had been there. "It doesn't look like her loss of blood was accidental. This may sound crazy, but it looks like someone stole her blood. If that's the case, then there had to be something different about it. I don't know what kind of blood to give her. I don't know what normal blood will do to her."

"If she doesn't get it, then..." Pixel didn't need to finish. What she was hinting at was obvious.

"She can't last long. I just hope that giving her blood won't kill her faster," Laiki was at a loss for what to do. "I'm calling a few people from the labs; maybe they'll have some ideas. In the mean time there's no choice but to take the risk, she needs blood. First, I'll take another sample before adding in the normal blood." 

Comet and Pixel looked at the comatose Akira while Laiki got things ready for the blood transfer process. Akira was so white. That was her normal color, she had always been pale. If she had some color in her skin to begin with, then the change would have been more noticeable.

"Okay, she's ready, now I just need to get some human blood," Laiki voiced with concern. "There's only pokemon blood in the reserves. According to the machine she's supposed to be AB positive, or an approximate of that, I can't be sure."

"Take mine," Comet offered, "I'm O negative, its supposed to be good for almost everyone."

"That's..." Laiki paused as if looking for the right words, or the right excuse. "It's not a good idea, you're tired, you look pale and exhausted," it was a lie. Pixel didn't agree with Laiki's perception, but she knew nothing about medicine, so she didn't voice any disagreements. "You need your rest and your blood. Finding some extra for you will be difficult if you run low. I'm AB positive and I take my vitamins every day, I can spare some blood." Laiki hoped it was alright, but she couldn't be sure.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Saffron City police station, Ash and Misty were having a hard time making Jenny listen. "We were trying to stop Tempest, we're not with them. It should be obvious that we were fighting against them!" Ash had been taken into police custody along with Misty and the members of Tempest. Solo had escaped and his location remained unknown. Poisona and Bollux never returned to the hide out. 

"That's enough out of you, be quiet!" Jenny ordered in frustration. She had all she could take with the way things were working in Saffron City. When the police tried to make justice, someone would complain that they were abusing their power. The mayor would interfere and criminals would run free. 

The city was calm on the surface. Robberies and street fights were rather rare. For the most part, the citizens were relatively safe. None the less, Saffron City had become a safe haven for illegal traders, loan sharks and others such criminals. As long as they took their murders and attacks out of the city, the mayor didn't care. Jenny had her hands tied with the limits of her jurisdiction and she was just about ready to snap.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 63: Give me Redemption

"Don't you know who I am?" Ash demanded from the cell he was imprisoned in at the Saffron City police station. All of his and Misty's pokemon were taken away, including Pikachu. The pokemon put up a fight, which didn't help Ash's image. In the end, Ash managed to calm them down and called everyone back into their pokeballs except Pikachu. Pikachu was kept in a small cage placed across the cells. He could at least see his trainer from there, so he stopped fussing and waited to be let out.

"I know who you are," Jenny answered, clearly in a bad mood. "You won the Indigo League championship in the past. You're a great trainer with fans and admirers in many regions. That doesn't mean you're above the law." This was not the kind of world Jenny wanted her young daughter to grow up in. "I don't believe you're a bad person, but you can't just barge in and play vigilante."

Ash had never been reproached in such a way for doing a good deed. He didn't understand the level of frustration Jenny had accumulated over the years. The feeling of helplessness had been too much to put up with for so long. "I didn't do anything wrong. If you know that, why are you keeping me here? Besides, I had to defend myself. Self defense isn't illegal, they started it!"

"I believe you," Jenny raised her voice with authority. "This is our only chance to bring in those criminals. I do thank you. Without your interference we might have found ourselves without a 'good enough,' reason to apprehend these guys." There was bitterness at the phrase 'good enough.'

Misty glared at the grunts that had been stuffed in the cells at the police station with her and Ash. Her eyes screamed, 'touch me and I'll rip your head off,' no one took the risk. "That's not fair. What do you mean a good enough reason? If you were after these guys, why not just investigate, track them down and do something?"

"The higher ups tend to protect them. Don't worry, you'll get off easy. I have no intentions of pressing charges against you two. None the less, there are some very inconvenient procedures to follow and you got caught in them," Jenny tried to explain it as well as she could. Her head felt tense, she could sense a migraine starting. Her job was quite a headache lately. "I need you two as truthful witnesses that all the procedures of the law were followed and no unnecessary abuse was committed. I also need to treat you the same as all the others so no one says I bought you off."

"This is abuse!" Ash had more than he could take. "Treating innocent people as criminals is wrong!" He was pushed around in the name of the law and his precious pokemon were taken away. He finally lost his temper. "You're making up excuses because the police can't take out the gangs. Why don't you just admit you need help, there are people willing to give it. Besides, you don't need a police badge to do a good deed." Ash was frustrated by how helpless the authorities were. They appeared too proud to accept help and too concerned with technicalities, regardless of what the 'higher ups' said. "You let Tempest get out of hand. They were the ones that caused the incident in Vermilion City, not Team Rocket. If I haven't done something, nothing would have been done. Were you just going to sit and wait for Team Rocket to put Tempest in its place? It's no wonder they do whatever they want! Where's the police when they're needed? At this rate, it might even be better to leave Kanto to Team Rocket. They might take better care of it than you." He spoke in bitterness and anger, not really thinking about his words.

"Silence!" Jenny snapped in rage and frustration. "I told you before; you have the right to remain silent. Should you refuse that right, anything you say can be used against you." Her eyes reflected both fury and emptiness at the same time. The other officers at the station watched her not daring to speak.

"Or you," Ash retorted. The fire in his eyes was burning brightly.

"Ash," Misty cautioned him quietly. Her expression shifted from fierce to worried, finally settling into an angry frustration. She wasn't angry at Ash. He had the right to protest about being treated so unfairly. Still, picking a fight with the police was not a good idea. 

Ash's words hit a sore spot for Jenny. That was exactly what the criminals did. They twisted things around. They claimed that a little detail in the procedure wasn't followed, be it protocol or jurisdiction. They got away with many crimes that way. Did the citizens of the rest of Kanto believe that as well? Had the police become the villains in their eyes? The officer did not reply, but her frustration and distrust were evident in her glare. She had lost hope after years of fighting a losing battle.

Ash's glare didn't relent. He looked right at Jenny, as if gazing into her very soul and burning it to ashes. The officer finally had to look away. She could feel the intensity in the young man's eyes following her movements. It made her very uneasy. She had faced fierce criminals with courage and they had never made her feel so shaken. He was behind bars, helplessly trapped without his pokemon, yet he irradiated power.

"She's here!" A younger officer ran into the detainment area. "She's in the front, she's really here," he stuttered in fright. 

"Who is here?" Jenny demanded to know. This young man was a rookie. He was barely old enough to be an officer. Jenny got the impression that it wasn't his best vocation. None the less, he had never been that nervous before.

The rookie tried to compose himself. He took in a short breath, exhaling quickly, "the mayor," he gasped, "the mysterious mayor of Saffron City."

A scolding yet weak voice was heard from beyond the door leading to the detainment area, "you can't go in there... please."

The warning was ignored and two men in dark red tuxedoes entered the area. They were followed by an older lady with long hair that was dyed the same color as Ash's hair. Her hair was brushed to the side, long bangs covering nearly half her face and casting shadows on the other half. Her eyes seemed to shine behind the darkness of her hair. She wore a bright red business suit. Two more men in dark red tuxedoes followed behind her as if escorting royalty.

The entire area went silent as all eyes were inevitably drawn to look at Madame. "What an interesting atmosphere," she commented calmly. She walked over to the cell where Ash, Misty and a few others were. "What a distinct presence."

Ash's gaze had gone from challenging to puzzled. "You're the mayor?" He stated to fill in the silence.

"Where has the fire gone?" Madame reached inside the cell between the bars. She extended her index finger and placed it under Ash's chin. "It came and went so quickly. Your eyes were just like his, but this look you have now is hers. What a dangerous combination. It's a sweet deception that will trap all those who dare to underestimate you."

"Huh?" Ash didn't move an inch, he merely blinked in confusion. The mayor's words sounded like some kind of riddle he couldn't solve. 

Madame didn't answer the question and instead turned to look at Jenny. "Officer, I cannot forgive the imprisonment of such noble trainers. Those who are with Tempest will be kept here until the higher authorities come for them. They will stand trial for the dreadful occurrences of Vermilion City and other crimes. The truth will be known to all. You are suspended from your duties."

Jenny wanted to protest but didn't. As long as the criminals were imprisoned she didn't care. Besides, she knew that if she spoke, she might even lose her job. She was at her limit, but she forced herself to endure.

Madame's eyes shifted from looking at Jenny, to gazing at no one in particular. Yet she was focused, as if taking in all of her surroundings at once. "The rest of you will make sure none of the prisoners escape. You will guard them with your very life." The tone made it clear that their lives truly depended on this. "Release those two noble trainers and return what is theirs." 

No one dared to question Madame's orders. The members of Tempest looked at each other in confusion. Seconds passed and murmurs began to emerge. They were perplexed, how could the mayor abandon them?

The officers quickly returned Ash and Misty's pokeballs. Pikachu jumped in Ash's arms when he was released from his cage, happy to be back with his trainer. "Thank you," Ash smiled at Madame, with no clue about who she really was.

"Yes, thank you very much," Misty added gratefully.

"You did not truly need my help," Madame acknowledged. "This is a situation that you could have faced on your own. I am confident you would have been fine without me, that is why I chose to help you."

Ash and Misty were confused by Madame's reply. "What?" Ash asked in puzzlement. 

"I do not believe I am robbing you of any valuable lessons," Madame clarified. She smiled as if proudly admiring a secret that only she knew. "You can continue on your own from here." She turned and left with her guards. She didn't look back, not even once.

Under the uneasy gazes of all those present, Ash and Misty swiftly left the Saffron police station. "That was..." confusing, peculiar, disconcerting, "interesting," Ash finished.

"The mysterious mayor of Saffron City, they called her, she was indeed very mysterious," Misty remarked. "I couldn't make any sense about what she was saying, but it looked like she knew you." 

Ash had no vivid recollections of ever seeing that person before. Their short chance meeting years ago had been long forgotten. There was no reason for it to stand out in his memories. "I don't know about that. I don't remember her from anywhere. Maybe those riddles are all part of her mysterious image. Anyway, she seemed like a good person, just a bit..."

"Intimidating?" Misty offered, unsure if that was quite the word.

"Something like that, but not in a bad way," something about the lady felt familiar, yet Ash couldn't explain it. He shrugged; maybe it was just her atmosphere that was familiar. Her presence was strong and powerful, impervious. It was a strange feeling. It was akin to being surrounded by danger, but at the same time perfectly safe. Ash knew he had felt that before, but he couldn't clearly place it. He wasn't one to remember such details.

Ash and Misty made their way through the calm streets of Saffron City. Very few people were still out. They had no destination in mind at first; they just walked away from the tension of the police station. Both soon realized the bus stop and the area where taxis usually gathered was at the other side of the park. They took a short cut through it. They were feeling tired and not in the mood to travel, but they might be needed elsewhere. Their confiscated possessions had also been returned along with their pokemon. Misty was anxious to check her cell phone after she finally got it back. Unfortunately, the battery was drained after such a long time without being charged. 

Misty stopped, standing under the light of a lamp post near a bench. "I need to try calling my sisters again. Ash, does your cell still work?"

Ash was a little slow in replying. It was as if an odd feeling in the back of his mind was trying to communicate with him. He checked his cell phone, but it wouldn't turn on, "no battery."

"I can't wait," Misty handed her cell phone to Pikachu, "I'll take the risk, Pikachu, give it a little charge."

"Chu!" Pikachu nodded and focused. He tried to be as gentle as possible. Ash jumped a little when Pikachu's electricity manifested. The little yellow pokemon was still on his shoulders. The charge was small and gentle, so it wasn't too uncomfortable. Ash was used to being the target of pokemon power every now and then. 

The small cell phone beeped to life and Pikachu returned it to Misty, "thanks Pikachu!" She petted his head gently and sat on the bench under the lamp post.

The scene felt familiar to Ash, but he couldn't understand why. He stood on that very spot before. It was dark, who was with him? Why was he in Saffron City? He closed his eyes and tried to remember. It was a holiday, Halloween. He was young; he was with his mother and Gary. They were collecting candy, they went to the park. There was someone sitting there, that person gave them candy. Who was that person? Ash couldn't remember; it was probably a stranger. Then they went to the other side of the park and the mayor was giving out candy there. It wasn't the mysterious lady; there was a different mayor at the time. 

"You're all in Viridian City?" Ash snapped out of his daze upon hearing Misty's voice. "Ash, they're okay; Daisy, Violet and Lily are alright!" She turned her attention back to the conversation. "What happened?"

Ash let go of the memories he was looking into as nothing more than random thoughts. Instead he sat down on the bench next to Misty. He listened to her side of the conversation and watched her face light up with relief. 

After a while, Misty said goodbye to her sisters. She let out a deep breath, as if she had been holding it for a long time. "They're alright," she assured herself of it. She put away her little cell phone and stretched on the bench, reaching out with her arms and legs. "They've been trying to call me for a while. They're all in Viridian City, at Kenobi's house."

"Then he's okay too?" Ash inquired with interest and relief. "What about Ackbar?"

"Kenobi returned to Viridian City safely. The problem with Ackbar was solved too. Daisy said that Lando just finished an important meeting. She didn't give me the details, but I guess that means he was talking to the board of executives on a video conference or something," Misty had no reasons to assume anything else. "He gave a message on TV officially letting everyone know that Ackbar Inc. was back in business. Everything's finally going back to normal."

"That's great, but I have a feeling I've forgotten something," Ash tried to figure out what it was. The couple sat close to each other, taking a moment to rest. Ash had one arm around Misty and petted Pikachu on his lap with his other hand.

"We should stay in the Pokemon Center tonight," Misty quietly voiced. There was no rush to go anywhere anymore.

"Yeah, I'm tired too," Ash agreed, "I don't feel like trying to make it back to... Cerulean," he suddenly realized what he had forgotten, "I just remembered, I promised to call mom."

"That's right," Misty recalled, "you shouldn't make her worry." She handed him her cell phone, "here, use mine; let's not push our luck with this method of recharging batteries."

Ash chuckled; he couldn't help it but to remember his dear deceased car. The phrase 'laugh so you won't cry,' came to mind. Except Ash had too much in his mind to worry about the details of his future means of transportation for the time being. He needed to unwind. He would just have to take a walk down memory lane and walk, like he did for years before. 

The cell phone was left to ring many times, before Delia answered it, "hello." She was on her way to the world's edge with Ariana. She debated on answering or not, but realized it was best she did.

"Hi mom!" Ash was tired but overall in good spirits, despite needing to rest. "I just wanted to let you know that everything's okay. Ackbar Inc. is working again. Daisy, Lando, Violet, Kenobi and Lily are all alright. They're at Kenobi's house in Viridian City."

"That's wonderful," Delia was truly relieved. "I'm happy that everything worked out in the end. Where are you right now? Did you go all the way to Viridian too?" She wasn't sure if that would be good or bad.

"No, we're in Saffron City. We're staying at the Pokemon Center tonight. We helped in the capture of Tempest," Ash proudly declared. "They're all locked up in the Saffron police station right now." He decided to skip the part about being arrested, even if that was later cleared up. "We met the Saffron City mayor, she seemed... nice." Ash didn't know how else to word things in a way that didn't inspire confusion he couldn't explain. Nice was not the right word, but he felt it could be interpreted as fitting with the situation. The mysterious mayor did help them after all. Strangely, she claimed to do so only because they didn't need it.

"That's great," Delia smiled fondly; she really enjoyed Ash's stories about his adventures. At first her heart would pound and she couldn't help it but to worry, but she always smiled. She wanted to encourage Ash to continue telling her about his journey. She knew she couldn't rob him of his right to see the world for her own reassurance. As time passed, she felt better listening to the stories. Ash had grown up to be strong and reliable; he could take care of himself. Plus he had his friends to keep him out of trouble. "You'll have to tell me all about it in person."

"I will," Ash smiled, picturing a quiet afternoon in Pallet Town. He would relax and tell his mother the full story. He would even tell her about the mistaken arrest. He would be there in person to laugh it off and assure her it was nothing but a misunderstanding. "Are you still in Cerulean?"

She wasn't, but she didn't go back to Pallet Town either. She didn't want to lie, so instead she masked the truth and left it up to interpretation. She did that a lot. "Actually, I met up with a friend and we went to Lavender Town," Delia kept her voice casual and carefree. "Don't worry about the Cerulean gym; I made sure to lock up before leaving."

"That's good," at least his mother had a friend to keep her company while things were being resolved. "What friend was it, anyone I know?"

"Ariana," there was not much to be found out from just a name, there could be a number of Arianas in Kanto. "I don't think you've met her before," Delia left it at that.

"Oh, is she there now?" Ash didn't wait for a reply before assuming she was. "I'll leave you to talk to her then."

"Yes, we have a lot to catch up on," Delia laughed as if there was nothing out of the ordinary going on. "Thanks for calling. It must have been a long day. I want to hear the full story about your adventure later. Say hi to Misty for me." Things were far from over, no doubt about it. Ash must have battled the grunts of Tempest. The leaders were about to face Giovanni and Delia was on her way to the dueling grounds without a solid plan. She was wearing a Team Rocket uniform, it was Ariana's condition and Delia had no time to argue.

"I will, bye mom," Ash was calm, yet uneasy. He pushed the paradox of feelings away and smiled. "Mom said hi."

Misty returned the gesture, leaning closer to Ash. Neither felt like walking to the Pokemon Center just yet. The park was quiet and peaceful. "Your mom's a really good person. She doesn't deserve any worries."

"It's okay," Ash hugged Misty, "she trusts me to stay out of trouble. She still worries sometimes, but I guess it can't be helped. I know that she feels in her heart everything will be alright."

"I think you're right," Misty cuddled close to Ash. Pikachu had fallen asleep on his lap. 

Ash's uneasy feelings refused to be completely quiet, "I don't think that was all of Tempest." He let his concerns be known. "The ones that attacked Vermilion were never really identified. Plus I didn't see that blond guy we saw at first in the police station."

Misty followed Ash's train of thought; she knew where he was going with the concern. "You think that guy is still out there and that we haven't even met the real leader?"

"Yeah," Ash admitted.

"Now that you mention it, you might be right." Misty wasn't sure if she should worry or not. "He's just one person. As for the leader, who knows, maybe Team Rocket took care of that." She wasn't sure how she felt about that. She only knew that she wanted the chaos to end.

"Tempest was staining their name," Ash agreed. "I think that even Team Rocket has pride. Even they have things they don't do."

"Or they keep things quiet," Misty didn't want to be pessimistic, "you're probably right, they must have some rules. I mean, they're a big organization; they have to be kept in order somehow. They don't set limits because they care; it's to keep trouble at bay, but none the less..."

With such thoughts in mind, Ash and Misty finally let their worries go. If another problem emerged, they would face it when it came.

xoxox xox xoxox

A short way south-east of Lavender Town, there was a tall cliff that overlooked the sea. It was an area far from the ports and beaches. It was also just far enough from Lavender for the town to be out of sight. Giovanni and Delia stood on that cliff many years ago, shortly after they got rid of the other gangs in Kanto. It was the true start of Team Rocket's rule. The place had no formal name, it was only a cliff. To the two who stood there ready to face the future together, that place was the edge of the world and the world was theirs for the taking. It was something that they both interpreted quite differently in the end.

Years passed and again Giovanni stood at the edge of the cliff, with the ocean far below. Persian stood next to Giovanni looking alert. Proton stood a few feet away; they were both waiting for the same thing. The night was quiet and cool, the atmosphere tense. 

The sound of a car broke the silence. The gray vehicle had nothing that made it stand out, but they knew who it was. No one else would have a reason to visit such a place that night. Bollux got out of the car and it became apparent that he was alone. The full moon and the stars provided enough light for the green T on his black shirt to be clearly seen.

Both Giovanni and Proton were wearing Team Rocket uniforms. Their red Rs stood out against the black fabric. Such clothing was something that Giovanni had not used in years. Tonight he was reclaiming the true meaning of that red R, it was fitting to carry the symbol proudly.

Bollux glared angrily, "this was supposed to be a battle between the leaders," he reproached. "Why did you send your agents to our hideout?" He growled, "you coward!"

"Silence!" Bollux couldn't help it but to involuntarily take a step back at Giovanni's harsh voice. "I am no coward, that's why I'm here. It will be known to all that I cannot be defeated. I don't know what you're rambling about. I didn't send anyone to your hideout."

"What?" Bollux and Poisona had received the report from Solo. The pokemon trainers that stormed the hideout didn't identify themselves as being from Team Rocket. They were not wearing Rocket uniforms or anything that alluded to them being a part of Team Rocket. None the less, Bollux couldn't help it but to jump to conclusions and share Solo's theory. Poisona thought the same thing, that the two trainers were undercover Rockets. "I don't believe you, but I guess that doesn't matter. Your life ends now." Bollux's mission was to kill Giovanni, that was Poisona's order.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon.


	18. Part 18

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 64: Give me Radiance

The gentle breeze of the night blew at the world's edge. From the cliff, the ocean could be seen. On its side it had a deep indentation. The area looked to some like a giant mouth with stalagmites and stalactite teeth. It was as if those who fell from the world's back would be swallowed up by it.

In one swift motion, Bollux reached for his gun, its smooth surface reflecting the moon. At the same time, Giovanni and Proton made the same movements. All three weapons were revealed, two pointed at Bollux and one at Giovanni. 

Bollux's right index finger slipped from the trigger to the base of his gun before he hesitated to lower it. "Give it up," Proton taunted, "even if you shoot one of us, the other will kill you. The boss doesn't fear risking his life. Do you fear losing yours?" Proton's expression was dark and fearless, as if he was above death itself.

Giovanni saw the doubt and fear in Bollux's pale green eyes. The so called leader of Tempest trembled; he was not a true leader. The scene made him think about the other person that he expected would show up, Poisona. Proton's investigation revealed that she was supposedly Tempest's second in command, but sometimes acted as the leader. Where was she? What was she planning? "I'm still interested in having a battle," Giovanni reminded, his face was full of confidence even beyond that of Proton. The full moon shone brightly in the skies, large and unreachable, as if shining upon him alone.

"You leave me no choice," Bollux tossed the gun a few feet away, where Proton picked it up. He reached for one of the pokeballs on his belt. Though trainers often preferred pokemon native to their homes, interregional trading had become more frequent in the recent years. In Bollux's case, he thought an 'unknown' pokemon would be a shortcut to power. What was from his perspective new and rare, seemed powerful in his eyes. "Gliscor!" Watching the pokemon emerge from the red beam of his pokeball, Bollux regained a little of his confidence. He still remained slightly doubtful, though that changed when he saw Giovanni's pokemon.

"Golem!" The red beam from Giovanni's pokeball revealed his long time pokemon. Even Proton seemed surprised. Giovanni had been switching his pokemon more often. He had not used his original team in a long time. He always seemed to be dissatisfied with his pokemon, searching for something they didn't have. Giovanni himself wasn't sure what he was looking for. All his pokemon were powerful, but something was missing. 

Giovanni wanted to feel the guarantee of a victory. He didn't want to simply know the outcome of a battle because he knew of the difference in power. He wanted to sense that he would win; he wanted to believe it beyond logic. It was a sensation he had not had in a long time as he became more disconnected from his pokemon. Persian was an exception, but Giovanni never sent Persian out to battle, instead treating him as a spoiled pet. After watching his original pokemon battle at Cerulean, he began to rediscover that feeling of certain victory.

"A Golem? That's such a common pokemon!" Bollux made the mistake of underestimating Golem. His expression was flooded with undue relief. He almost threw his head back in laughter.

Golem observed the situation. He was angry at the opposing trainer who underestimated him. He didn't want to be seen as weak, though in the past he had times when he lost the will to fight. Delia returned; she was the one who truly took care of him and his companions. Plus the situation felt different. There was one other ally besides his trainer, wearing the uniform of Team Rocket. Golem didn't perceive the presence of other agents hiding anywhere. Giovanni didn't look like he had been pushed to a corner, he stood confident. It felt like the past had returned. It was as if once more Giovanni was willing to rely on him. The feeling was bittersweet to Golem. It reminded him of the day he evolved.

"Boss?" Proton couldn't help it but to give Giovanni a curious and somewhat puzzled look. Why Golem? He paid no mind to Bollux's foolish assumption that pokemon from other regions were strong simply because they were rare in Kanto. Even so, this was not the pokemon Proton expected Giovanni to choose.

"These pokemon fought strongly last time," Giovanni referred not only to Golem, but also Rhydon and Machamp, whom he also brought for the battle. 'I guess they just needed a break from battle,' the thought made little sense to Giovanni. From his perspective, training pokemon hard was the only way to make them stronger. 'All that matters is that they're strong again,' he told himself not to look too deeply into it. They were pokemon, they had power; there was little else to know.

"Such a common pokemon can never be strong!" Bollux argued. He glared at Giovanni's confident look. Bollux wasn't as brave as Poisona, but he wouldn't be underestimated. "Gliscor, poison jab!" Bollux felt as if he was standing face to face with his worse nightmare, then suddenly he found hope. 

Gliscor went on the attack, but Golem didn't move. He was in no danger and he knew it. Giovanni was aware of that as well. The power difference between the two pokemon was very noticeable, especially to an experienced trainer. Bollux had spent too much time locked up and bitter. He was out of practice, not that he was too skilled to begin with. During his time with Venom in the past, he relied on the illegal power ups the Tempest Gang was known to use. Gliscor's tail collided against Golem's hard rock body with no effect what so ever. Gliscor barely brushed the surface of the solid stone, not being able to inject any poison.

Bollux stared in disbelief, disturbed by what he witnessed. A mere Kanto pokemon was standing up to his 'super rare' pokemon very easily. Without Poisona to guide him, Bollux was foolish. It was apparent why she never left his side despite her wish for her leadership of Tempest to be kept relatively quiet. Bollux was a leader in name only. "What is this, some kind of trick? I see, you've done something to power up your pokemon." Bollux glared bitterly, "how ironic, it was Tempest who used to do that in the past. We've lost our interest in such things lately. How ironic indeed. You saw that our way was the best and are using it against me now," Bollux's words were full of frustration. Poisona didn't want to bring too much attention to their group too soon. She decided that using power ups like Venom used to do would make them stand out too much, thus she forbade it. 

Bollux had obeyed Poisona, believing Venom's sister to be the rightful new leader of Tempest and the best guide to follow. He had helped her organize Tempest with the few previous members who were willing to participate, plus new ones. He thought of nothing more than vengeance while he was in jail. He and his comrades had taken the blame for the crimes of both the Tempest Gang and Team Rocket.

"You fool!" Giovanni snapped, "your pokemon isn't as rare as you think. Besides, even if it was, you can't just get a rare pokemon and expect it to fight at its best. You have to train it." Giovanni's definition of training was different from what many would consider proper. None the less, the Rocket leader felt that there was a hidden irony in his words. Perhaps he should be taking his own advice. He disregarded the thought. Pokemon needed training, that was true, but they had to be strong to begin with, that was what he believed. 

xoxox xox xoxox

While Giovanni and Bollux battled atop the cliff, Ariana and Delia approached their location on the road. The people and pokemon on the cliff were still little dots in the distance. None the less, they could tell that there was a battle going on judging by the rapid movement of those remote dots. The occasional flash of red light came and went when a defeated pokemon was called back and another was sent out to replace it.

Looking out the car's window, Delia noticed someone flying high above, riding on a pokemon. The pokemon lost altitude as it approached the cliff, as if wanting to sneak up on the people there. The flying pokemon aimed to land on the large cavern on the cliff's side. "What's that?" Delia searched through the equipment Ariana had in her car for a pair of binoculars.

"Friend, foe or a random passerby?" Ariana inquired, "my guess is on the second." She had not been informed of any reinforcements.

The electronic binoculars zoomed in on the target. It was a person with long lavender hair. The pokemon was something Delia was not familiar with. It was from a far away region that she had not visited in years, "is that a Mandibuzz? They can't be found in the wild in Kanto."

"Let's investigate," Ariana took a sharp turn and sped down a connecting road. It was narrow and not in great conditions in comparison to the main road. She stopped where they road ended, the trench ahead could not be crossed in a car, "go Honchkrow!" The flying pokemon stood with his wings slightly spread, searching for a battle target. He looked at Delia with distrust, "she's on our side," Ariana assured. "Let's go," she climbed on the pokemon followed by Delia.

The two women headed for the bottom of the cliff where the flying pokemon landed within the large indentation. They were hidden from being seen from the cliff above. The person riding the pokemon noticed the two others and stood ready to face them. 

Ariana and Delia got off Honchkrow after landing in the cliff cavern. Giovanni, Proton and Bollux didn't realize they were there. It would be beneficial to take out Team Rocket, though that was not Poisona's true plan. The new Tempest was needed because she needed minions to do her bidding. The alliance with Neo Rocket also proved to be useful in Poisona's real plan. 

Madame Boss and who she was in the past had been all but forgotten by most. She was a nameless shadow that commanded a modest portion of power in the underworld, but was not too involved. She was a shadow with no true alliances, a strategist who used those around her. Poisona was aware of that. She knew that Tempest and Neo Rocket were being used. It made no difference. 

Poisona had made Tempest's situation look better than it was. Her plans were not to take over Team Rocket, Kanto or the world. It was something else entirely. She really wanted to kill Giovanni, but it didn't matter. When her plan was realized everything would end.

"I've seen you before," it was a long time ago, but Delia still had the recollection of that time among the chaos. 

On that day, Delia had been rushing back to the original Team Rocket hideout with Giovanni. They had recently visited Pallet Town and received an urgent call on their way back. Their haste led to a chase through the Viridian Forest. Finally, they made it to the mountains between Pewter and Cerulean. A column of smoke could be seen, the hideout and the warehouse were on fire. The Tempest Gang was still fighting Team Rocket. Delia only looked at the flames for a short moment before she watched the battle. Tempest's pokemon were furious, yet lost. Everything happened rapidly from that point on, but Delia remembered it all. 

"You were there when Tempest burned down Team Rocket's hideout and warehouse all those years ago," Delia realized. "You were there during the battles; you were there at the Viridian gym." Delia could almost feel the strength of Poisona's grudge.

"That's right, I'm Poisona, I'm sure you must remember my brother, Venom, since you and Giovanni murdered him," Poisona glared with unparallel anger. 

"That's not true!" Delia desperately argued. "Venom experimented on himself. He mutated into a strange creature. The pokemon he tortured in his experiments attacked him," the memories were very unpleasant for Delia. Even if sad events came to mind when she thought about Team Rocket, she tried to stay optimistic when she remembered the past. She had many precious memories, even if she had long since awakened from her dream.

"Those creatures," Poisona looked at her own pokemon with disgust. "Humans should be the only living beings in the world. These creatures have no use for power. It's only natural a human would desire such power; it is only humans who can use it." Her red eyes seemed lost and empty, "That day, burning everything was my idea. Venom wanted to take the loot; he wanted to take every pokeball in the warehouse. I burned them all along with the pokemon in them. They all burned to ashes!" She screamed with a pained and psychotic expression. The breeze blew her lavender hair, it flew in front of her face, but she didn't seem to notice. Her eerie red eyes glared from behind the waves of lavender.

"How terrible!" Delia felt that she was reliving all the sorrow of that day. That time she had been caught in the moment and driven by the adrenaline of battle. Afterwards she tried not to think about it too much. There was a lot on her mind at the time; she had other things to focus on.

Ariana searched for a hint of purpose in Poisona's words. She felt as if there was a lot that remained hidden. "Is that your reason for causing trouble for Team Rocket again? You blame us for your brother's foolishness?"

"If pokemon didn't exist to tempt us with their power..." Poisona's mind went back to a time long ago. 

xoxox xox xoxox

In Poisona's memories, she was at her house with her parents and brother. It was a cozy little house on the outskirts of Lavender Town. The white picket fence had been freshly painted and the garden was taken good care of. The area was a little lonely and some would call it solemn. The charming little house stood out in the unfitting atmosphere. From its light yellow walls to its pale brown triangular roof, everything about it was soothing. 

The white front door was opened and two children stepped outside. The boy was the oldest; he had cyan hair and red eyes. His younger sister had identical eyes and lavender hair. The front yard was filled with flowers that some would think were impossible to grow in that area. The boy threw a pokeball and from its red beam emerged a little Charmander. The children played together with the small pokemon until the sun started to set and they were called inside for dinner.

Those were happy times from long ago. It was on that fateful night that everything changed. There was a fire in the house, flames consumed it all. Only the two children made it out alive. The girl's faded memories contained images of standing in front of a burning house, watching the flames consume it. She felt helpless and weak. She couldn't save her brother or parents. 

Help arrived and in the end the boy made it out alive. He was hospitalized for a long time having inhaled too much smoke. After the boy was released from the hospital, his sister was all he had in the world. His Charmander had died on the night of the fire. 

The girl would always blame her brother's Charmander for the catastrophe, though no proof of the accusation was ever found. The official police records remained a mystery to most. She hated pokemon. She considered them to be dangerous and stronger than they deserved. She followed her brother in his quest for power. If he obtained the power of those creatures, he would keep her and their new friends safe. 

She took on the name Poisona. She always found pleasure in watching her brother's experiments. Her purpose was different from Venom's. What she wanted was something far more sinister.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Confuse ray!" Poisona snapped into reality at Ariana's voice. Honchkrow attacked Mandibuzz with a powerful confuse ray. Mandibuzz tried to resist it but could not.

The bits and pieces of faded memories were thrown into the back of Poisona's mind and buried there. She fell silent for a moment before her expression turned psychotic, "goodbye," she took what at first glance looked like a pokeball from the belt over her Tempest uniform. She pressed the button on the red and white circular item. Instead of opening it and releasing a pokemon, she quickly threw it. The pokeball shaped grenade collided with the cave wall near Ariana and Delia. It exploded on impact with a bright light and a loud noise.

The explosion caused the entire cliff to shake. The noise and vibrations alerted those atop the cliff of the danger, but they couldn't see what was happening in the cavern below. The avalanche of falling rocks rained on Delia and Ariana. Surprisingly, Mandibuzz protected them along with Honchkrow in her confusion. The impact left Mandibuzz terribly injured after taking the worse part of the avalanche. Honchkrow made it out with only minor bruises and scratches. "You useless creature!" Poisona yelled in fury at Mandibuzz's actions. "It doesn't matter, I have no time for this," she released an Ariados from a pokeball. "Get me up that cliff," she climbed on the Ariados back. Ariados began to climb the cavern walls. He carefully made it to the side of the cliff and prepared to pull himself up with his web.

Delia and Ariana struggled to get out from under Mandibuzz, Honchkrow and the rocks. "Why did you protect us?" Delia reached to try to comfort her, but quickly retreated when Mandibuzz tried to peck her. 

"Be careful, we can't trust her," Ariana cautioned. "She only helped us because she didn't know the difference between her own trainer and the enemy."

"She's hurt, we have to help her and stop Poisona," Delia didn't want any more sacrifices to be made. 

Ariana was about to reply but stopped, something in the distance caught her attention. It was a man riding on a Braviary, "there's no time for that. Hurry up and stop Poisona. Giovanni must know something's going on after all this noise, but you could still help out. I'm going to stop that guy." Ariana jumped on Honchkrow's back and took off in pursuit of the Braviary.

"We can't just leave Mandibuzz!" Delia called after Ariana, who didn't stop. A loud bang pierced the air. It came from somewhere beyond her view. "Go Kingler!" Delia quickly released one of her pokemon. "I'll be back for you," she assured the injured Mandibuzz. She then looked at Kingler intensely, "this is going to be a challenge, but I know you can do it. Help me climb up the cliff, if you can grab on with your pincers, I know we can make it up."

Kingler started to climb up the cliff as Delia instructed. She held on to him and they progressed up the cavern towards the cliff side. Kingler buried his pincers into the rocks with a strong grip and climbed.

Poisona and her Ariados came into view on the cliff. "You should have stayed under those rocks!" She tried to shoot Ariana and Honchkrow, but missed. She wasn't paying attention to Delia and Kingler, who made their way up, hiding behind the protuberant rocks on the cliff side.

"Be careful Kingler," Delia whispered, "now aim carefully at Poisona's weapon and use bubble!" Kingler released a multitude of bubbles that effectively knocked the gun out of the enraged Poisona's hand.

In the night sky above, Honchkrow and Braviary performed all sorts of aerial maneuvers to try to gain the advantage. The man riding on the Braviary was Solo, who came armed with a bag full of grenades. He threw one of the explosives at Ariana and Honchkrow, but they quickly dodged it. 

"Weavile!" Ariana released another of her pokemon. Weavile emerged from her pokeball, riding on Honchkrow along with her trainer. "Get ready Weavile. Honchkrow, get as close as you can. Weavile, jump on Braviary as soon as you get the chance."

The two flying pokemon circled each other in the air. Unfortunately, Braviary was faster than Honchkrow. Because of that, Weavile was having trouble following Ariana's plan. To make matters worse, Solo kept throwing grenades at them.

Delia and Poisona were still hidden from view from the top of the cliff. Giovanni and Proton saw Ariana fly up to battle the man with the grenades on the Braviary. "That Braviary is too fast," Proton realized, "go Crobat, flight right into that Braviary's face!" Crobat hurried to do what his trainer commanded. He skillfully avoided the incoming grenades and lashed on to the larger pokemon's face. Braviary flew wildly, in discomfort.

Solo fought to get rid of the pokemon that prevented Braviary from seeing were he was going, while trying not to fall off. By the time he managed to pull Crobat off, he saw a Weavile standing right behind him on Braviary's back. Braviary continued flying wildly, trying to throw Weavile off his back. "Weavile, night slash!" Ariana called out.

Weavile didn't hesitate to attack Solo. She slashed with her sharp claws ripping the green T on his shirt in half. The attack knocked him off Braviary and he fell to the ocean below. Before he could hit the water, Braviary dove after him. The flying pokemon caught the back of Solo's belt with his claws and held him in mid air. 

Weavile threw the sack of remaining grenades over her shoulder and jumped off Braviary onto Honchkrow, who flew near by. Ariana received the sack of grenades with a mischievous grin. Solo was still dangling from Braviary's paw by his belt. He looked at Ariana fearfully. 

Ariana threw a grenade at Solo. Simultaneously, Braviary's claws cut through the leather of his belt as the pokemon gripped it too tightly. As a result, Solo was sent falling into the ocean again. Braviary gained altitude to dodge the grenade, which passed between the flying pokemon and his falling trainer.

Below, the cliff was shaken by a violent earthquake courtesy of Golem. Giovanni knew there was someone hidden behind the curve of the cliff but he didn't know who. "Hold on Kingler!" Kingler's strong grip proved to be effective. 

Up on the cliff Giovanni heard Delia and recognized her voice. If Ariana was there, he should have guessed Delia wouldn't be too far away. Ariana's mission was to keep her out of trouble, though the executive gave it her own interpretation. The Rocket leader looked at Bollux. He was down to his last pokemon, Linoone. "This battle has already been decided," Giovanni declared, "I'm going to get Delia, keep an eye on him, Proton." Giovanni released Machamp from his pokeball, "let's climb down, don't fall." Machamp looked surprised, but nodded slowly, shocked but happy to be trusted. He used his multiple arms and strong grip to climb down the cliff with Giovanni on his back. It was too slippery for a human to make it down without the proper equipment.

Bollux felt defeated and afraid, "don't talk about me as if I'm not listening," he choked out the words as he fell to his knees. "Linoone do... something!"

"You really are pathetic, you know that?" Proton laughed. He couldn't help it but to think they were completely missing something. Then again, maybe without Ariana and Delia things would have been a little different. Then the grenade throwing little cheat and whoever else was hidden in the cliff might have taken them by surprise. "It seems the boss left me in charge of your fate. What should I do with you?" Needless to say, restraining Bollux and taking away all his pokemon was easy.

Machamp and Giovanni made it to the side of the cliff on time to witness the end of Delia and Poisona's fight. Kingler had one pincer wrapped up in string. He had blocked the attack to protect Delia. He held on to the cliff with his other pincer. 

"It's over!" Poisona prepared to throw the last grenade she carried.

"You've caused enough damage with those!" Delia jumped from Kingler to Ariados, fighting Poisona for the grenade. 

The explosive slipped out of Poisona's hand and fell into the ocean below. It was time to retreat. Poisona let go of Ariados and fell to the ocean where Solo was struggling to stay afloat against the waves. Ariana had not allowed Braviary to get him out of the water.

"Delia!" Giovanni extended his hand to Delia, pulling her onto Machamp. Ariados screeched and looked as if he would attack. But Machamp was faster, "mega kick!" Ariados was kicked right off the cliff. As he fell, Ariados shot a string to attach himself to the lower portion of the cliff below where he stayed unsure of what to do.

The weakened Braviary was having trouble staying in the air. He flapped his wings tiredly and made an emergency landing on the cliff side cavern. The injured Mandibuzz was still there and Ariados heading towards them. It seemed that was the only relatively safe area from their point of view.

Delia recalled Kingler into his pokeball. Machamp returned to the top of the cliff with Delia and Giovanni. Proton had Bollux tied up, while Persian sat regally, supervising everything. Solo and Poisona made it to the cliff, they held on to the rocks there to avoid being pushed underwater by the waves. The cliff was too slippery to climb. Ariana flew above them on Honchkrow with Weavile at her side. Proton's Crobat flew near by.

Delia breathed in relief that the battle was over. "Now we just need to get them out of the water. We also need to tend to the injured pokemon in the cavern."

"You need to tell me why you're here," Giovanni added. He didn't expect Delia to show up and join the fight, especially not in a Team Rocket uniform.

"Don't blame Ariana, it was my idea," Delia wasn't sure how to begin to explain things. "I wanted to make sure everything turned out alright. Ariana wanted to help too." Delia's version of alright' might be different from Giovanni's and they were both aware of that detail, but didn't bring it up. "Anyway, like it or not, I ended up involved with Team Rocket again." She walked to the edge of the cliff remembering the first time she stood there long ago. "With all that's happening and all that we need to talk about, I think I'll be around for a while." She looked at the glowing moon and endless horizon. She looked back at Giovanni and made herself smile, trying to remain positive amidst the complicated situation. 

Giovanni watched Delia standing at the edge of the world. The breeze blew her long brown hair and the moonlight shone on her. She smiled and he saw something he had not seen in a long time. She was radiant.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 65: Give me Life

Poisona, Bollux and Solo were captured by Team Rocket and kept in the Viridian Headquarters for interrogation. Slowly, the truth came to light. It had been three days since the battle at the world's edge. Giovanni and his four main executives were discussing the recent happenings. The meeting room located at the Viridian gym was large and comfortable. Its walls were a basic white, with a few paintings. 

The paintings were simpler and smaller than the ones in other parts of the gym and in Giovanni's mansion. They mostly featured ground type pokemon in their natural environment. The picture frames were made of exquisitely carved wood, coated in glossy clear paint, but it was nothing too extravagant. Giovanni sometimes had legal meetings in that room, so there was no need to make it stand out excessively.

The polished surface of the light brown wood table shone reflecting the overhead lights. The chairs were made of a darker brown leather. They were comfortable and of good quality. The round table was large enough to fit a dozen people, though it was never occupied by that many at a time. On the wall opposite to the door there was a large screen that was currently off.

"I think we can all agree that this was too easy," Proton voiced. "It's true that the damage could have been far greater and we also need to take into consideration that Team Rocket is very powerful. Even so, their operation was doomed to fail and they should have known that. What puzzles me the most is how they agreed to a duel between the leaders. I know that's what they wanted because they thought they had a chance if the rest of the team wasn't involved. I know they tried some tricks out there and were defeated, but something's not right."

Archer nodded his agreement," we've already concluded that Venom's sister, Poisona, was the true leader of Tempest. The way Poisona managed things before Neo Rocket and Tempest made their presence known was different. Why was she so secretive up to that point? Why did she attack? At first glance it looked like she wanted to take the chance, but when I think about it she must have suspected Madame's interference." Archer knew that particular topic was not to Giovanni's liking, but it had to be discussed.

"Basically," Ariana reviewed, "she gave us a little, non-vital but rather helpful push. Perhaps more helpful than she realized," she admitted.

"She was just meddling," Giovanni disagreed with a stern expression. His mother had kept an eye on the new Tempest and watched their moves carefully. She pretended to protect them so she could keep them close. She had spies in Team Rocket; that was an old and likely suspicion that was confirmed. Those spies informed her of the inner happenings of the team. She involved herself with Neo Rocket so that she could keep an eye on them too. She knew all about Jessie and James, though they were unaware of who she was in relation to Giovanni.

"Tempest traded Kenobi for Akira, that's strange," Petrel pointed out the main mystery they were discussing. The shift in the conversation was welcomed by all, though Madame was still a part of it. Comet had reported what he learned while infiltrating Tempest. That, combined with Laiki's report about Akira, created more questions then answers.

"We assumed that they wanted Akira to get the press' attention so that the police was forced to act against Team Rocket," Giovanni mused. "What if that wasn't it?" He theorized, his expression analytical. "There were other ways to make a scene without Akira. She would have sped things along, but she wasn't vital to such a plan. Kenobi could have been used in the same way, plus he would be more valuable as a hostage. Furthermore, after the hostage trade occurred, everything was resolved. Tempest became less active, they took bigger risks, they apparently gave up."

Archer caught on to the meaning of Giovanni's statement, "apparently being the key word. I see where you're going with this; they might have wanted us to think it's over. Tempest and Neo Rocket might not mean anything to Poisona after all. It was Akira's blood she was after."

"About that, have the results from the lab arrived yet?" Proton inquired.

"I haven't received any word," Petrel commented.

"Thankfully, Laiki had enough sense to take an additional bigger blood sample before the transfusion so that Akira's blood can be analyzed pure," Ariana recalled. The executives and leader had already read through all the reports. "Everything makes sense if we think that Akira was Poisona's goal. Laiki's rather detailed report mentioned that Akira was originally known as Secura. She grew up in an orphanage in Vermilion, thus why that specific event was targeted makes sense. With Bane Ackbar there, he was the perfect distraction to cover Poisona's real goal."

"We were tricked..." Petrel frowned.

"To top it all up we didn't act fast enough and our investigation was delayed," Proton sounded frustrated. "The labs haven't been able to make heads or tails of the blood sample. Akira is in a barely alive coma. Our answers are slipping away. I just hope Luke brings us something." 

After Akira's closeness to Mirta came to light, Giovanni called for an investigation. It was already too late. Mirta's few belongings had been reclaimed by her relatives. Any clues that she might have left behind in her possessions were in the hands of her relatives in Cianwood, Johto. At least until Luke found them and investigated if there was anything worth confiscating. That is confiscating without their knowledge.

"Mirta had to know something," Petrel reminded, trying to look at the positive side. All of the involved agents were interrogated beyond what they wrote in their initial reports in case they missed any important details that needed to be added. "That's why Akira was so angry; she missed out on the answers Mirta had."

"Which is another reason why the donation ceremony was targeted," Ariana concluded. "Poisona was not only getting Akira out in the open, she was also erasing valuable information. We don't know if Mirta left any records about Akira. The information search on her original name of Secura came up empty beyond what we already knew."

"Whatever is happening, Poisona knows it all too well," Archer emphasized. "We have another clue," his face was deep in thought as he brought the piece of information to their attention.

"About her mother being a rocket?" Proton caught on, "that's leading us nowhere. We have no clue who she was. It looks like we'll have to wait for Luke and connect the dots later."

"We don't have that much time," Giovanni finally spoke after a long silence, listening to the four executives. "Poisona took a big risk by going to battle. She could have just left Bollux to serve as a distraction while she went about her business." Giovanni was the leader of Team Rocket. He had his pride and he would leave no doubts that he did not fear them. He was more than just a leader who hid behind Team Rocket. He could face things on his own. It might have been reckless, but he simply decided he wanted to do it. Poisona was another story; she should have known she didn't stand a chance. Her plan seemed flawed because it wasn't her true plan. "Whatever Poisona wanted to do, she had already done it."

The four executives looked at their leader. Archer was the first to speak, "I agree, the reason she's so quiet in captivity isn't because she has accepted defeat. It's because she thinks she already won and is basking in it. The key is Akira's blood. That's what she was after. What did she do with it? She must have set things in motion before going to battle."

"We're just going in circles," Proton let out a frustrated breath. "At least things with Ackbar have settled down."

"Yes, about that," Archer elaborated, "most of the Waterflower sisters are aware of Ackbar's position with Team Rocket. As requested, I made sure it was clear to them that this was to remain a secret. Since the Waterflowers are associated with the Cerulean City gym, they would make a nice addition to our connections. Only the three oldest Waterflowers were present at our meeting. They were also made aware of Kenobi's position. I believe they took it well. They seem to be prepared to keep secrets, especially since they are already so involved."

"What about the youngest Waterflower, Misty?" Giovanni inquired. Whenever gym leaders had any kind of reunion or participated in special activities, the oldest Waterflowers represented Cerulean. Giovanni knew they had a younger sister, but paid the detail no mind. Though the youngest Waterflower was said to be the best gym leader of the four, she was rarely at the gym in the recent years and was never too involved in the league's social events. Things were complicated because of who the youngest Waterflower was, Misty, Ash's fiance.

"She already knew about Ackbar's involvement with Team Rocket due to Lando's big mouth," Archer looked annoyed. "It is fortunate you only ever met in person with Bane, or else your identity might have been in danger. Her sisters were instructed to pass on the message that her silence about the situation is required. I don't think Misty will talk, her sisters are too involved. She also doesn't know about Kenobi, though I think it's just a matter of time before she finds out."

There was a long pause until Ariana brought up the subject they were all walking circles around. Misty came into the conversation because of Ash. A few Rocket agents, including Luke, Laiki, Comet and Pixel, knew who Ash was. For the most part his identity was kept from spreading through Team Rocket. Jessie and James had no idea. All four executives were fully informed about who Ash was and wanted to know what Giovanni would do about it. "About Ash..."

Another long silence passed. Finally, Giovanni spoke, "that is not something related to Team Rocket. For the time being it will have to stay that way. It will complicate things unnecessarily to give him too much information. For this same reason we need to be extra careful with the Waterflowers and all those connected to them."

"You ask for a lot," Archer admitted. "The truth of the matter is that the Waterflowers are connected to too many important resources. Daisy will marry Lando soon and Violet is still dating Kenobi. From what Rune said, the only thing keeping Kenobi from proposing is that he wants to wait a while after Daisy's wedding has passed, so Violet can fully focus on her own."

"At least Violet will have a more solid connection to Team Rocket and information shouldn't spread too far beyond what it already has," Ariana offered.

"Speaking of weddings, didn't you need to go?" Petrel glanced at Giovanni.

"Yes, all the gym leaders of Kanto must attend Daisy's wedding," Giovanni confirmed. "It's customary to attend such celebrations related to other gym leaders. It's nothing official, but it would look bad if I'm not there." That meant that all of Daisy's sisters and friends would be present. That included Misty, which would mean Ash must be going too. No doubt Delia must have been invited as well. "It's alright; they don't know who I am. I don't want to make a scene, so it's imperative that Ash doesn't find out about Team Rocket until all these occasions have passed. My image was slightly damaged. There are those who dared to think that the good gym leader is actually allied to the evil Team Rocket. Going to events like that will be helpful and even necessary."

"Yeah, the tension's under control, but it's not good to push our luck," Petrel rocked back and forth in his chair.

"So," Proton began to ask the question that was on all the executives' minds. "After the weddings and stuff are over, are you going to tell Ash everything?"

The four executives watched Giovanni, waiting for his answer. He took a moment to reply, thinking it through. "I don't know," he admitted. "Delia said she would leave the choice to me, so I know she won't tell him. She said she wanted to prepare him first if I decided to tell him the truth. I know she wants to tell him at least a portion of it. I can't include him in Team Rocket," Giovanni knew that was the executives' true question. "Not unless you want this place to turn into the hideout of a band of vigilantes."

A knowing look was shared by the four executives. They remembered how Delia used to be. "Speaking of vigilantes," Ariana spoke in a light tone, trying to soothe the tension in the air. "What about Delia?"

"She'll be around," Giovanni wasn't too specific, which left the executives requesting more information with their eyes. "She won't be too involved. I was thinking about taking her to Binks, maybe she can help him. It might not work, but there's not much to lose. Other than that, she might help give me a good image."

"The press will be all over you two if you're seen together," Petrel laughed, "I bet the rumors will fly."

"It would be a good diversion tactic," Proton admitted. "It might also complicate things," he warned.

"Things are already complicated," Giovanni emphasized, "it's best to keep Delia around. She won't be too involved, but she can be of assistance."

"Not to be pessimistic, but what if she speaks. It's true that she has kept her silence for a long time, but her reasons..." Archer didn't finish the sentence. "Her testimony would be much more believable if you are known to have been involved with her recently."

Giovanni understood what Archer was trying to communicate. The reason Delia left was Ash. Even if it wasn't directly revealed to the executives, it was rather obvious when everything else was taken into consideration, the timing, the secrecy... It was for her son that Delia left. Ash was Delia's first priority and Giovanni knew it. "Let's take this one step at a time." The way things were set up, Ash might eventually find out the truth. "There's no need to rush. For now, we'll make sure those who shouldn't be in delicate situations are kept out of them."

The executives glanced at each other before giving a collective nod. They decided that it was best to drop the subject for the time being and trust Giovanni's decision. Ariana brought up the next topic of conversation for the meeting, "about Jessie and James..."

Giovanni's face changed from hidden stress to hidden frustration. The change was so subtle in his forced neutrality that only those who knew him well would notice it. All four of his main executives knew him very well. "They'll be troublesome if we keep them and troublesome if we let them go. I was informed that they are running a pokemon day care center in Saffron City. Are there any connections I should know of?" Giovanni was asking about Madame, a sour topic for him.

"I investigated and it looks like the Saffron City mayor helped them a lot when they were trying to establish the day care center," Petrel informed. "The strange thing is that she didn't get rid of them like the others she used. I guess that could be because unlike the others, those two were not really Team Rocket's enemies."

Giovanni gained a look of disapproval; he had been dealing with a lot in the past few days. "Let them keep running their day care center. We'll take them back as part time agents in the information gathering department. They will give us information but receive none. They will remain in a need to know basis. That way it will be easier to keep an eye on them without putting up with their antics. They won't have to go out of their way for this, so they shouldn't cause any trouble. I heard that pokemon day care centers tend to attract rumors like a magnet, since so many people visit them. They can probably gain a decent amount of information just by listening to their customers. Plus we can monitor her activities through them if necessary," again Giovanni was referring to Madame Boss.

Another silent agreement passed through the meeting room. "The legal process against Tempest is going according to plan," Archer paused as if going through a mental check list. "That's all we have for now," he concluded.

"Keep trying to get information from Poisona and the others. Especially Poisona, it looks like Bollux and Solo really don't know anything. We'll have to keep trying to use pokemon to hypnotize her into talking. She must have a limit," Giovanni decided it was time to check on Delia. After the battle, she returned to Pallet Town. Giovanni had not spoken to her since that night. 

The executives had taken care of the prisoners while Giovanni took Delia to Pallet Town. He had intended to talk to her on the way, but they were simply too tired and in need of time to organize their thoughts. The journey was long and silent. Giovanni thought it was best if Delia didn't stay in Viridian, given the situation. He returned to Viridian City after dropping her off in Pallet Town.

"If that's everything, then the meeting is over," Giovanni officially declared. The executives went their separate ways, off to take care of various tasks. Giovanni had caught up with things for the most part, thanks to the administration work the executives did while he was gone.

xoxox xox xoxox

In Saffron City, Jessie and James were at their pokemon day care center. It had reopened and customers came and went on occasion to drop off or pick up their pokemon. Flareon and Growlie where cuddled up with their egg. The blue cushion where they were resting on had yellow stars. It was large enough to fit them both, three counting the egg. Meowth sat comfortably, resting on a purple and yellow checkered cushion near by. All their other pokemon were there as well, resting contently.

The day care center's walls were painted with colorful sceneries. They were adorned with green grass, blue skies, blooming flowers and fluffy happy-faced clouds. Big comfy pillows and pokemon toys were scattered around. The day care center gave off a cheerful atmosphere that the pokemon really liked.

The center was off limits for stealing, since it was considered Team Rocket territory as of Jessie and James' return. In the past, there was always the danger of Butch and Cassidy trying to steal the pokemon. The backyard was fenced in. Some of Jessie and James' pokemon were always guarding the day care center pokemon when they went out to play. Many trainers became regular customers because their pokemon had such a good time playing with Jessie and James' pokemon. The day care center's services also included training. The place was rather pricey, but well worth it according to the customer reviews.

"I wonder why aunty was so insistent about giving the egg such a detailed medical examination," Jessie thought aloud. The egg had turned out to be perfectly healthy. The visit to the Saffron City Pokemon Center after picking up the egg had gone without incident.

"I don't know; I've never heard about an egg being sick," James shrugged, "your aunt is nice though, she took us to dinner." Both Jessie and James were exhausted when they returned to Saffron City. Who knew interrogations could be so long and tedious? They understood why they would appear suspicious to Team Rocket, given the circumstances, but it was still an unpleasant experience. The food was very welcomed after a long drive; they had not even stopped to eat on the way. "How come you never mentioned her before?"

"Aunty is a very busy woman; I didn't want to bother her," Jessie admitted. "She's not my biological aunt. She was good friends with my mother. It's funny; she always says that she's helping me because I don't need it. She said that otherwise she would be robbing me of the chance to become stronger." Jessie adopted a thoughtful expression. "Remember when she went on about opportunities and second chances during dinner? I almost thought she knew about Team Rocket and was encouraging us to stay in it. The mysterious traitor list still confuses me. Who sent it? During my interrogation, I got the impression that the executives knew all about it."

"I know what that feels like," James recalled his own interrogation experience. Both of them were asked a multitude of questions separately. "Maybe it's just because they're so high ranked. The executives make me feel like they can see right through me. It's almost as if they know more than I do about myself," James shuddered at the thought.

"Yes, that's exactly how it feels!" Jessie agreed. "This may sound odd, but I felt as if aunty knew a lot more than she was telling us too." Her face turned thoughtful for a while, before she disregarded the possibility. "There's no sense in worrying about crazy theories. Let's just make sure to keep Team Rocket a secret from aunty. It's not going to look good if anyone hears the Saffron City mayor is somehow involved with criminals." Jessie laughed it off.

James smiled, "I can keep a secret!" He went over Jessie's words in his head again. "It feels strange to say criminals. I know Team Rocket is illegal and all, but we're not really stealing anymore. We just need to report information and we can still run the day care center as usual."

Jessie considered the point, "to say we're secret agents fits better. We're spies or maybe even vigilantes," they both laughed at the last option. Jessie looked at Flareon and Growlie peacefully napping with their egg. Meowth had already picked out the story books that he would read to the baby when it hatched. Reading was something he learned to do while practicing his speech. A smiled formed on Jessie's lips, "Remember how you used to get kidnapped?"

"I knew you would never let me live it down," James recalled his last kidnapping. 

xoxox xox xoxox

That time, James was tied up on the roof of Jessiebelle's mansion. Jessie had been held back by a group of hired pokemon trainers working for Jessiebelle. Those unfortunate trainers found out the hard way that they were not paid nearly enough to deal with Jessie when she was enraged. She had enough of the constant kidnappings. She was always rushing off to rescue James. If he didn't do something to lose the stalker soon, Jessie would lose her mind.

She went up the floors of the mansion one by one, fighting alongside her pokemon and Meowth. James' own pokemon had been left behind at the day care center and they aided Jessie in the rescue mission. Even the pokemon from the day care center battled alongside Jessie as she forced her way up to the roof of the mansion.

The duel of Jessie versus Jessiebelle ended with Jessiebelle being sent blasting off again for the last time. "Why did you go out on your own? You didn't even take your pokemon!" Jessie had reproached as she untied James.

"They looked like they were having fun playing with the other pokemon at the day care center. I was going to come back soon. I just needed to go buy something," James tried to excuse his mistake. It was difficult to live thinking that he could be kidnapped any time. Jessiebelle had grown more impatient and forceful over the years.

"I'm tired of having to rescue you," Jessie crossed her arms with an angry expression. "Next time I might leave you with Jessiebelle." She would never admit that she was jealous. James was her boyfriend, but Jessiebelle refused to understand that. Jessie walked over to the edge of the roof, looking at the horizon, her back to James.

"Don't do that!" James felt a cold chill run down his spine at the thought of being left in Jessiebelle's captivity. "I really do appreciate you and everyone coming to my rescue."

"What was so important that you had to go out to get anyway?" Jessie still sounded annoyed. She turned around and gasped in surprise when she realized that James was holding a ring. That was what he had gone out to buy.

James smiled, "will you marry me?" 

They got married soon after that day. It was a small and simple, but elegant wedding. Ash, Misty, Brock, Delia, Professor Oak and their friends from Pallet Town were all there. Jessie smiled at the memory. James had caught her by surprise with his proposal, but she didn't doubt it for a second before accepting it.

xoxox xox xoxox

Jessie looked at the resting Flareon and Growlie once more. Flareon opened one eye, then closed it again. It was as if the pokemon were waiting for something. "Flareon, you told them, didn't you?" Jessie's tone was somewhat amused. She knew what they were all waiting for, to see James' reaction. James gave Jessie a puzzled look. Jessie's mysteriously long trip to the grocery store the previous day had secretly included a detour to the doctor's office, "I'm pregnant."

James' expression was priceless. His face had frozen as he was about to ask Jessie what she was talking about. A red tint invaded his cheeks. "You're going to lay an egg? I'm going to be a mother? You're having a father! I'm going to be a baby!"

The amused sounds of the pokemon proved that they had not been sleeping at all. Jessie laughed along with them, "something like that."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 66: Give me Links

The underground dungeon below the Viridian Rocket Headquarters had a heavy atmosphere. It was as if the air was almost too thick to breathe. The structure was composed mostly of dark gray stones. The only lights were on the corridors, with none inside the cells.

"Hypno, hypno, hypno..." The steady and soft chanting was soothing. The silver pendulum swung left and right in front of the prisoner's eyes. 

At first, Poisona struggled against the chains that strapped her to the dungeon wall. Then she lost her strength and felt sleepy. Her red eyes closed and her head slumped.

"Keep the hypnotic power steady," Proton instructed his pokemon in a whisper. The yellow pokemon nodded and continued chanting gently. Taking a deep breath, Proton tried the interrogation again, "what is your name?" He started with a simple question to test the trance.

In a lost and emotionless voice Poisona replied, "Patricia Citox," that was her real name.

So far so good, but Proton wouldn't get his hopes up. "What do you hate most?"

"Pokemon," Poisona's emotionless voice answered without hesitation.

"Why do you hate pokemon?" Proton tried a slightly different approach. He wouldn't ask about Akira right away.

"Fire, burn, they all burn, it was Charmander, it had to be," the volume of her voice increased as it went from empty to psychotic. Her red eyes opened, "I'll kill you all!" She let out an ear splitting wail before passing out. The constant hypnotism and the strain of going in and out of a trance wore her out. It didn't help that she refused to eat. She wouldn't last long that way. She would have to be sedated and fed through a needle.

Proton shook his head. His underlings weren't kidding about how difficult it was to get information out of that woman. Bollux and Solo answered all the questions they were asked without hesitation after they were hypnotized. The executive addressed one of his henchmen, "run a detailed investigation on Patricia Citox's past. Don't leave anything out. Also, get the resident shrink to look at her. We need to get information fast."

xoxox xox xoxox

Giovanni's orange sports car stood out as he drove through the streets of Pallet Town. He stopped in front of a little house with tables and chairs next to it. Delia mentioned that she ran the only restaurant in Pallet. It was very easy to find in the small town. He thought about inviting her to see Binks, he could be useful if he recovered his senses enough to help analyze Akira's blood sample. 

Giovanni got off his car, parked in front of Delia's house. A peculiar sound reached his ears. "Bell!" It was loud and high pitched, similar to the horrified cries of a small child, but it was a pokemon. "Bell, bell, bell!"

Ash exited the little house with a pink bundle in his arms, rocking it gently. "It's okay, its okay, don't cry anymore. Let's go get some fresh air. Look Belle, isn't it a lovely day?" Misty was in Cerulean City with her sisters. The sisters insisted on having her return for some sibling bonding. In truth they had to have a talk about secrecy. While Misty agreed to her sisters' request of sibling time, Ash took some time off at Pallet Town.

Ash tried to smile soothingly at the Bellsprout in his arms, but was rewarded with a leafy slap. "Bell, bell, bell!" She cried.

"Shh, there, there, don't cry," Ash continued his fruitless effort to comfort the wailing pokemon. A new cap covered his messy hair, which reminded Giovanni of the old cap that was still in his office.

"Persian," Giovanni's loyal companion was there with him as usual. Persian frowned impatiently, hearing the annoying cries of the Bellsprout in the pink blanket. The Bellsprout was by no means a newborn, she was older than Ash.

"Pika!" Pikachu was on the ground next to Ash. He couldn't stand to be perched on his shoulders with the loud Bellsprout in his arms. He pulled his ears down with his front paws and held them down tightly.

"C'mon Bell, you're going to scare off all the customers!" Ash pleaded. He felt his ears ringing from the constant noise. He took notice of just who it was that exited the car parked in front of the house. "Giovanni!" Ash rushed over to greet him. "What a surprise, did you take care of business already? I bet you must have been busy. At least Tempest was apprehended," Ash grinned proudly at that. He couldn't wait to tell Giovanni about how he and Misty stormed the enemy hideout. "Wow, awesome car!"

Before Giovanni could get a word in, Belle became upset that the one who was supposed to console her wasn't paying attention to her. "Bell!" She wailed so loudly that even Giovanni cringed.

"Put her in a pokeball!" Giovanni snapped in annoyance. Why Ash was putting up with that noisy creature was beyond him. The Bellsprout was rather small, light creases had formed under her beady eyes due to her age. Her pink makeup was running all over her yellow head. The pink bow she had tied around her neck was askew. She was a mess.

"I can't," Ash continued trying to calm Belle. He had to raise his voice to be heard over her cries. "Mrs. Alderaan, her old trainer, passed away recently. It's not just a temper tantrum, she's really sad." Ash gave the Bellsprout an understanding look. "Belle tried to wake Mrs. Alderaan yesterday morning and couldn't. She ran out of the house and got mom to follow her. Mom had to get in through the window. She found Mrs. Alderaan still in her room. She looked like she was sleeping, but she was never going to wake up. Mrs. Alderaan took really good care of Belle, so poor Belle is heartbroken. We tried to talk to her, but she wouldn't stop crying. Mrs. Alderaan lived a long and peaceful life, but it's still hard for Belle to accept she's gone."

Giovanni wasn't sure what to say to all that. Leave it to Delia to worry about a crying pokemon and teach Ash to do the same. The Viridian gym leader wanted nothing more but to shove that loud mouth Bellsprout in a pokeball and bury it.

Salvation came in the form of Gary Oak. Ash spotted him heading towards Mrs. Alderaan's house where a few people had gathered. "Wait just a second, I'll be right back." Ash bolted after the other young man, "Gary! Please take care of Bell for a while, alright?" He shoved the pink blanket with the wailing pokemon into Gary's arms.

Gary's expression became pained and annoyed at the noise, "Ash, wait! You can't leave me like this!"

"I have a guest to take care of," Ash excused himself. "Besides, you're the researcher; you should research ways to cure pokemon depression." He dashed across the street back to where Giovanni was.

"You'll pay for this Ash Ketchum!" Gary threatened.

"Thanks!" Ash smiled, not really taking Gary's threat seriously. He watched guiltily as his ex-rival continued towards Mrs. Alderaan's house with the crying Bellsprout in his arms.

"Pikachu..." 'Finally...' The electric pokemon sighed in relief.

"Persian, persian, per per?" Persian inquired, 'is it always like this?'

Pikachu shook his head, "ka chu!" 'No way!' "Pika pi ka chu pi," 'today is a sad day.'

The two pokemon continued their conversation while their respective trainers talked. "It looks like I came in a bad time," Giovanni observed, "maybe I should come back later." Delia would probably want to stay in Pallet Town. It might take a lot to convince her to go with him and help. Plus they still needed to clarify certain things.

"It's okay, mom is at Mrs. Alderaan's house talking to her relatives, but she'll be back soon. You came to see her, didn't you?" At that moment the general situation felt a little odd to Ash. It had not fully sunk in yet that his mother was in a relationship with Giovanni. He suspected it, he even assumed it to be true, yet it didn't fully hit him until then. He was comfortable enough before, caught in the rush of things that were happening. When it all slowed down, an awkward cloud began to form, though one without any hint of resistance or hostility. Ash dissipated it in the only way he knew. "Do you want to have a battle while we wait?"

Giovanni had been waiting to battle Ash; his face showed that he was truly looking forward to it. "Don't hold back," the confident grin the Viridian gym leader was known for overtook his face.

Ash smiled with anticipation, "I won't." He glanced a little way off across the street. "Let's go somewhere else so we don't disturb anyone, or break anything. The Oak research center is big enough to have an all out battle safely. We should go there."

Giovanni opposed no argument as he followed Ash down the street. "Is Samuel Oak still running things? I thought he retired." Giovanni had heard something about the recent discoveries by Professor Oak of Pallet Town. He wondered if that was the same Oak or maybe his son.

"You know Professor Oak?" The awkwardness that had formed disappeared after the battle challenge was accepted. The conversation flowed rather naturally afterwards. "I should have guessed you would know him, since you're the Viridian gym leader and all. The elder Professor Oak retired a few years ago. His grandson, Gary, is taking care of the research now. He's the one I just gave Belle to. Professor Oak still lives there at the lab. Has it been long since you've seen him?"

"Yes, a very long time," Giovanni truthfully replied. "It was probably before you were born."

The comment brought curiosity to Ash. As far as he knew, his mother dated Giovanni and they broke up for reasons unknown to him. Then his mother met his father. They married, Ash assumed they did, then he was born. His father passed away when he was still a baby. His mother was left in a deep sadness and got rid of all traces of his existence. Then Ash grew up not knowing his father beyond vague stories without specifics. He also knew that his mother had been Professor Oak's student in the past. Had Giovanni studied with him too? Was that how they met?

They stopped in front of the stairs within the brick fence, the gates were left open. Giovanni noticed Ash's thoughtful expression. He wondered just how much this young man knew and how much he suspected. Even if Delia had kept certain things hidden, maybe Ash figured things out on his own. "There's something you wanted to say?"

"Um... well," Ash shook his head. "It's nothing, never mind. Let's go see Professor Oak before our battle." Ash felt that he was being a little too invasive. He should be asking his mother the questions about how she and Giovanni met. It might be awkward for Giovanni, who didn't know Ash too well yet, to tell him. Ash hurried up the stairs to the front door, breaking eye contact with Giovanni. Ash felt as if Giovanni was looking right into the depths of his mind. "Professor Oak!" The young man called out from the door before opening it. After so many years of stopping by to see how Gary's research was going, it no longer felt odd to go in without being let in.

Professor Oak made his way out of the laboratory were he was reading over his grandson's latest article. The article was just about ready for publication; Gary just wanted his grandfather to take one last look at it. "Hello Ash," the greeting was cut short when Professor Oak realized just who was with Ash. "Giovanni?" He asked unsure. He never expected Ash to show up one day with Giovanni.

"It's been a long time, Professor Oak," Giovanni's tone was calm and polite. 

It brought back memories for Samuel. He remembered when Giovanni came by with Delia long ago. "Ah, yes, a long time indeed," there was an edge to the elderly professor's voice, but it was hard to identify unless it was expected.

"We're going to have a battle," Ash proudly declared. "You don't mind if we battle out in the back, right? It might bother people if we're too noisy on the street. Plus we'll need the space."

"A battle," Professor Oak searched for any signs of real tension or anger on Ash's face. He looked and sounded perfectly cheerful. The stress of the previous day's discovery had since left him. He was still visibly tired from the ordeal of dealing with Belle, but otherwise alright. Professor Oak correctly assumed that Ash had no idea about who Giovanni was to him. "Yes, of course, go on, have fun." He forced himself to smile as casually as possible. As soon as Giovanni and Ash were outside, he would call Delia.

Giovanni and Ash made their way through the peaceful atmosphere behind the laboratory. The large portion of land was covered in lush green grass with trees, bushes and flowers scattered about. Giovanni's attention had already been caught earlier. He needed to know of how much Ash was aware of. "Just say it," he tried to keep his voice calm so as to not discourage the truth. "What you were going to tell me before."

Ash was caught with a thoughtful expression. Again he felt as if Giovanni could read him like a book. He quickly came up with something else to say, "I was going to tell you about Tempest. I saw the news and it said the Saffron City police caught them." Ash pouted, he felt a little cheated at the official version. "I guess the police needs the credibility and all, but Misty and I were the ones that did most of the battling." He paused; he didn't want to sound like a show off. Both his mother and Misty always reminded him not to get too confident whenever he slipped up.

The revelation quickly caught Giovanni's interest and he let his expression show it. "Tell me all about it. I want to hear the details." He already knew about this from the reports, but he wanted to know why Ash felt the need to bring it up.

The request pleased Ash, who smiled cheerfully. He began his narration, "Misty and I heard some suspicious rumors about Tempest being in Saffron City. We went to investigate and saw the Meowth that stole my hat. I'm sure it was the same one from Cerulean City. We chased her down an alley and she led us to the Tempest hideout. From there on it was a great battle!" Ash merrily went over every detail of the battle.

The story took a very interesting turn when Ash explained that he had mistakenly been taken to the police station along with the Tempest members. "Thankfully, the Saffron City mayor showed up and cleared everything up."

"The mayor?" Giovanni wasn't happy to hear about his mother again. "Did you talk to her?" That part was not included in Comet's report since he left with Akira while the battle was still raging.

"Not really, she just came and ordered the officers to let us go," Ash thought back to the mysterious meeting. "Jenny didn't really think we were guilty, she kept saying something about protocols and needing to keep us there. She looked frustrated, but I was too. It was so unfair to be detained for a good deed. Jenny also criticized the higher-ups, I think she meant the mayor, but I think the mayor is a good person. We left right after she made the police set us free. We didn't get to talk much."

"Did she say anything at all that seemed unusual?" Giovanni asked. A Vileplume passed by, minding her own business. She gave the humans one short curious glance before continuing on her way.

"If riddles count as unusual..." Ash recalled. "When she first saw me she said something about my eyes being like 'his' eyes, but that I had a look like 'her'. She said something about trapping those who underestimated me. Maybe she meant Tempest with that last part. I don't know about the first part, she never mentioned who that 'him' and 'her' I reminded her of were." Ash still couldn't understand what that was about. Perhaps it was some kind of profound metaphor. "After we thanked her, she said we didn't really need her help. That was kind of odd."

It was all just like her. Madame had not changed all that much. It became apparent to Giovanni that she must know who Ash is. She knew far too much. "Is that all she told you?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much everything," Ash nodded, "not that I can make any sense of it. Do you know the Saffron mayor?"

"Not too well," Giovanni lied, while at the same time remaining truthful. "I heard she's a very mysterious person, so I was curious."

"She's mysterious alright," Ash agreed. Three Rattata ran near by playing tag, focused on their game.

Persian sighed, "Persian per persian per per." 'What a strange brother I have.'

"Pika?" 'Brother?' Pikachu curiously inquired.

'I mean Ash,' Persian replied in his pokemon language. 'Giovanni and Delia are my parents, adoptive since they're humans and all. That makes Ash my brother I suppose, since they are both his parents.'

"Pi ka chu!" Every syllable came out with surprise. 

Pikachu was so loud that Ash had to wonder if there was something wrong. He smiled widely as he came up with an interpretation for Pikachu's outburst. "You're anxious to battle, aren't you Pikachu?"

"Pika pika!" Pikachu flailed his arms around as he shook his head and tried to communicate his discovery. "Pikapi, pika pika!"

'He can't understand a word you're saying,' Persian reminded, of course only Pikachu understood his statement.

'I know but this is big!' Pikachu argued. 'Who is Giovanni really? Just the gym leader? Or is he really with Team Rocket. I suspect he is!' Pikachu continued.

'Yes, but it's not like you can tell anyone,' Persian taunted. He grinned mischievously which made even Giovanni wonder what kind of message he communicated to Pikachu. 

Giovanni disregarded his previous thoughts about pokemon being nothing but creatures of battle, he viewed Persian differently anyway. "Meowth would be really helpful right about now," Ash mused aloud, as if he read Giovanni's thoughts.

"Jessie and James' Meowth?" The question came out before Giovanni could think of any consequences it may bring. He didn't know of any other talking Meowth. If he didn't disregard pokemon thoughts and feelings as gibberish or nonexistent so often, Giovanni might have seen the benefits of keeping Meowth around at headquarters.

"Yes, exactly!" Ash exclaimed before realizing what he was saying. "How do you know Jessie and James?" Before Giovanni could reply, Ash remembered his battle at the Viridian gym. He got an earth badge after battling Jessie and James. "Is it because they took over the gym that time years ago while you were away?" Logically Giovanni had to be away, otherwise Team Rocket wouldn't have been able to take over, Ash reasoned. Whoever was left in charge of the gym and kicked out by Jessie and James, must have told Giovanni all about it when he returned, Ash assumed.

Giovanni didn't want his connection to Team Rocket to be discovered by Ash, so he went along with that. "Yes, everything was a mess when I came back. I later heard that Team Rocket had taken over. Apparently, someone defeated them." Giovanni made the connection, "that was you?"

"Yes, Jessie and James were always trying to steal Pikachu. They kept at it for years," Ash revealed. "I'm sorry the gym was left in such bad conditions after the battle." Two Pidgey flew overhead paying the humans no mind.

The fact that Jessie and James had spent so much time and effort trying to capture Ash's Pikachu, made Giovanni realize that Ash was the one causing all their miserable failures over the years. A big part of him was annoyed, but another part was almost amused. Of course those two wouldn't be able to stand up to Ash, he was... his son. It was only starting to finally truly sink in.

"Please don't be mad at them," at that moment Giovanni understood what Ash mentioned about his mother's words. When Ash spoke of the battle with Tempest, Giovanni could see his own eyes reflected in Ash. Now his look reminded him of Delia, forgiving and merciful. "Jessie and James were really troublesome in the past, but they're not bad people anymore. We're friends now."

It was a good thing that Jessie and James, along with most of Team Rocket, still remained unaware of Ash's relation to their leader. "I understand." The simple words were enough to reassured Ash, but Giovanni's thoughts were anything but silent in his head.

"Pikapi pika pi chu!" 'Ash, figure it out!' Pikachu exclaimed as he listened to the conversation between the two humans who were actually father and son. He pouted when Ash failed to interpret the message correctly. 'I'm getting Meowth to help me tell him. He talks like a human.' An Exeggcute group stopped near by, listening curiously.

'That's freaky,' Persian huffed, 'besides, if Ash needed to know anything, mom or dad would have told him already,' he hissed. The Exeggcute hurried away, with one of them lagging behind.

Pikachu had to admit Persian had a point; maybe this was another of those complicated human things. 'Alright, I'll keep quiet.'

"We better start the battle before they start without us," Ash assumed that Giovanni would be sending Persian out to battle, since he appeared to be his main pokemon.

"Show me what an Indigo League champion can do. I expect a real battle, six on six," Giovanni decided. He had brought his original pokemon as well as some new ones he wanted to try out. He was especially looking forward to facing Ash's Charizard and Pikachu in battle.

As Ash prepared to take his position a few feet away from Giovanni, Jigglypuff peeked out from behind a tree near by. She smiled at the audience that was gathered there and looked up at the tree. If she sang from there, they would all be sure to see her. The tree was very hard to climb. Maybe that Persian could help her up, he looked like a good climber. 'Excuse me,' she persistently poked Persian's shoulder with the end of her red marker, which still had the cap on. 'Can you help me get up on that tree branch?' She asked in pokemon language. 'I want to give everyone a good show. Help me get up there, you won't regret it.' She kept poking the annoyed Persian. 'C'mon, help me up, please!'

"Persian!" Persian swung his tail in annoyance, yelling at the pink pokemon to 'go away'. His tail batted her away towards the tree.

Jigglypuff held on to the tree branch, "puff!" Her body grew in size as she pouted with an indignant 'ouch!' She let out the extra air returning to her normal size, 'you could have been a little more gentle.' Then she began to sing, "Jigglypuff, jiggly puff, jigglypuff jiggly!"

Ash had frozen in his movement of throwing out his first pokeball. "Jigglypuff!" He pointed at the pink pokemon on the tree branch. 

Giovanni had been ignoring the Jigglypuff. He expected to see random pokemon running around the research area. They had been passed by a Vileplume, three Rattata, a pair of Pidgey and an Exeggcute during their conversation. "What about it? It's not... unusual..." Suddenly, Giovanni felt very sleepy. He looked at Ash. The young man had laid down on the soft grass and was slumbering peacefully. That loud mouth Bellsprout probably kept him up all night. Pikachu had fallen asleep next to Ash. Persian was sleeping too. If only that Jigglypuff would shut up. Giovanni tried to reach Jigglypuff, but he was too tired and fell asleep.

Jigglypuff finished her song to see that her audience had fallen asleep. With an angry, "puff!" She took the cap off her shiny red marker and scribbled all over their faces. Satisfied with her vengeance, Jigglypuff ran off to find a new audience that would listen to her song.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon.


	19. Part 19

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 67: Give me Humor

Delia and Professor Oak were walking outside Oak's research lab. "I'm sorry he surprised you like this. I honestly didn't expect Giovanni to come to Pallet Town so soon. I especially didn't expect him to take the initiative to talk to Ash." The surprise was pleasant and Delia's expression gave that away.

"Aren't you worried?" Professor Oak inquired with honest concern. "I have no doubts that Ash will do the right thing, but still."

"If Ash was younger I would worry," Delia admitted. She didn't allow the passing thought to ruin her sudden optimism. "He's at a point where he has already decided who he is. He can't be easily influenced and I'm sure Giovanni knows that. He won't tell Ash the truth out of the blue. I told him that it was his choice to reveal his true self or not. I think he knows that I at least want Ash to know who his father is, but the illegal part doesn't need to be included. If Giovanni decides to reveal that, I'll let him, but I'll prepare Ash first."

"Don't you think Ash has the right to know either way?" Professor Oak didn't like the idea of Ash getting involved with someone from the mafia. He cared about him as another grandson. Yet even hurtful honesty was best at times. 

"I think he has the right to know, but I don't want to push things. I don't want to cause a conflict," Delia tried to hold on to her optimism and hope. "If things progress slowly, then maybe the revelation won't be so harsh if it comes, or perhaps I should say when."

Professor Oak nodded. His aged face showed support mixed with some hope of his own. Things really did feel different. "I wish you both the best," It was as if the time for conflict had passed. Albeit Delia was pretty sure Oak's wish only extended to her and Ash. He had suffered the hurt of a father whose daughter was hurt, even if Delia wasn't his biological daughter.

They spotted Ash and Giovanni laying on the grass not too far away. At first they were alarmed. Delia ran to them, first checking over Ash to see that he was sleeping soundly despite the red scribbles on his face. Pikachu peacefully slumbered beside him, similarly decorated. She then rushed to Giovanni who was in the same condition, as was Persian.

Grinning mischievously Delia gave Professor Oak a thumbs up to express that there were no serious problems. Then she placed her index finger over her mouth in a sign of silence. She conveniently used her little black cell phone with the red R to take a picture. She put the little cell phone away and quietly walked off.

Professor Oak observed the scene in confusion. "They all have red doodles all over their faces," Delia whispered, that much was obvious. It was the consequences that she was trying to point out. "I don't think Giovanni will see the funny side of that. I'm going to get something to clean him up. Hopefully he won't wake up."

"Alright..." Professor Oak observed the sleeping men with surprise and relief. They were okay, at least until Giovanni woke up. 'What could have caused this?' He wondered.

Delia quickly ran inside and took a few napkins. She wet some of them hoping that water was enough to get the ink off. She hurried back to the sleeping men and got to work on cleaning Giovanni's face first. She glanced at Professor Oak. "Maybe you should run for cover just in case," Delia wisely suggested.

Professor Oak had bravely walked over to the sleeping Giovanni to have a better look at the doodles. It was a once in a life time opportunity to see something like that. "I think you're right," he admitted and began to quietly retreat towards the lab.

Making sure to be gentle, Delia tried to wipe off the red ink from Giovanni's face. He stirred in his sleep and she drew back her hand. He was still and she tried again. It was evident that water alone wouldn't be enough. It would be next to impossible to wash anyone's face with soap without waking them. 

Delia didn't have time to consider the prospect for too long before she found Giovanni staring up at her. He was about to battle Ash and there was a Jigglypuff singing. The next thing he knew he was waking up on the grass. Delia was on her knees next to him apparently cleaning his face. "Delia?" Was all he managed to say at first. The puzzled and questioning tone of his voice spoke volumes.

She smiled and bit her lip so she wouldn't laugh, but she couldn't hold it in. "I'm sorry; it's just that, it's so funny. Don't worry, no one saw you." She still had the picture for her own viewing pleasure.

"No one saw what?" Giovanni demanded to know, "is there something on my face? What's so funny?" Persian woke up listening to the voices near by. He stared at Giovanni in surprise, which didn't give the gym leader any reassurance. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," Delia tried to explain between giggles. "You were already like this when I found you."

The catchy song of Ash's cell phone woke him up near by. He yawned and stretched along with Pikachu. He answered the call, still a little confused about what was going on. "Hello?"

"Ash..." Misty's voice came a little uncomfortable at first, as if she was worried about something. She changed the tone of her voice to a cheerful one and continued. Maybe Ash wouldn't notice since he sounded sleepy, "did I wake you from a nap?"

"A nap," Ash recalled the events that made him fall asleep. "Yeah, remember that Jigglypuff that used to follow us around and doodle on our faces?"

"I wonder what ever happened to her," After a while, the Jigglypuff disappeared, seemingly having lost track of their constant travels. "Wait, don't tell me," imagining the situation gave Misty a real smile.

"Yeah, she's back," Ash confirmed. He looked at Pikachu, who was looking back at Ash. "Judging by the red hearts all over Pikachu, it looks like she got a shiny new marker. I just know it's the same little mischief maker. She popped out of nowhere and started singing when I was about to..." Ash's mind finished becoming aware of the situation. He looked over at Giovanni and Persian, finding that his mother was there too. She was spared from the scribbles, but both Giovanni and Persian had fallen victim to Jigglypuff. "I was about to battle Giovanni when Jigglypuff made us both fall asleep." Ash lowered his voice to a whisper, "I think he's mad. Maybe if we have our battle he'll feel better."

"Oh, you're in Viridian City? Or did Giovanni go to Pallet Town?" Misty inquired. She had assumed Ash would take a break in Pallet Town for a while.

"I'm in Pallet, we're at Oak's place," Ash watched as Giovanni scrubbed his face with the napkins Delia provided. It didn't help and Ash was starting to worry that they would all get stuck with doodles on their faces for an indefinite period of time.

Misty needed to talk to Ash, but decided not to keep him for too long if he had a battle. He would be distracted thinking about it anyway. She didn't need to talk to him in a big hurry, that wouldn't change anything. She could wait until they had time to talk calmly. "I'll leave you to your battle. Tell me all about it later."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later!" Ash cheerfully ended the call with no suspicion that Misty was stressed. He assumed that she was only calling to talk to him with no specific topic of conversation in mind, just to say hi. He rushed over to the annoyed gym leader with an apologetic look. He couldn't help it but to smile holding back laughter after a moment.

"Don't laugh, you're probably worse off than me," Giovanni snapped. He had no way of knowing, but he hoped to be right. Anyone else would have coward in fear, but Delia and Ash seemed amused. 

"Persian!" the spoiled pokemon gave his indignant complaint. No doubt he must have fallen victim to that infuriating Jigglypuff too. He wasn't sure if he wanted to look at his reflection. He scrubbed his face with his paws insistently, though he had no way of knowing if it was effective. The red stars on his face remained unchanged.

"Pi pi pi ka," the yellow electric pokemon laughed at Persian's predicament, despite being affected too with red hearts.

Persian glared and grumbled something about unrefined pokemon. Pikachu only stuck his tongue out and made no other reply. Persian glared in annoyance, then threw his head back and turned around, ignoring Pikachu.

"I was always Jigglypuff's favorite victim." Ash's cheeks were decorated by red circles like a Pikachu. Giovanni's facial art was inspired by Persian, with whiskers and a jewel. One of Ash's bright red circles seemed to have more ink then Giovanni's whiskers and forehead jewel together. 

"This has happened before?" Giovanni thought that one time was too much. He didn't know how Ash could allow such annoyances without doing something about it. He was too forgiving. On the positive side, the very microscopic positive side, at least he could ask, "how did you clean your face afterwards? This stuff doesn't look like it'll come off easily."

"To be honest, I'm kind of worried," Ash's confession did not help Giovanni's anger subside in the least. "Jigglypuff had a black marker before that came off with water. I don't know about this new red one. It has to come off with something, right?" Ash looked to his mother for support.

"Of course," Delia assured, "C'mon, let's go inside. I'm sure Professor Oak won't mind if we borrow some soap."

"I would prefer not to be seen like this by anyone else," Giovanni was clearly at the very end of his patience. If he had a Rocket grunt at arm's length, the unfortunate grunt would have become a punching bag.

"I'll see if the coast is clear," Delia's eyes paused on Giovanni's for a moment. She was letting him know that she understood he had all he could deal with and intended to try to end the uncomfortable situation.

Fortunately, Professor Oak wisely decided to stay out of sight in his office at the laboratory. After a good amount of soap and water, the trainers and their pokemon were finally clean. They were all about to head back outside to finally have their battle when Gary returned. 

Gary's face was decorated with red suns. Belle was fast asleep in his arms, her yellow head adorned with red swirls. The fact that the crying Bellsprout had been silenced by slumber was Gary's only consolation. He was seen by Ash who gave him an amused and knowing smile.

Instead of getting annoyed, Gary smiled right back, which made Ash stop cold. The young researcher quietly walked over to Ash and handed him the sleeping Bellsprout. "She's all yours. It turns out Mrs. Alderaan remembered you in her will. I heard it from her relatives and they asked me to deliver Belle to you."

Ash's jaw drop and he stuttered a quiet, "what?" Gary grinned victoriously and Ash knew he was serious. The relief was short lived as Ash reminded, "don't forget all my pokemon that are not in my current team will be living here."

Gary glared, "I hate you," he grimaced, while Ash smiled in amusement. He turned his attention to the somewhat familiar looking man he had seen with Ash earlier in front of his house. "Aren't you the Viridian gym leader?"

"Yes, and you must be Gary Oak, the current head researcher of this laboratory," Giovanni was still annoyed with the interruptions and the Jigglypuff incident. It was obvious from Gary's face that he had suffered the creature's mischief. 

His encounter with Mewtwo had been forgotten, instead replaced with a story Gary still had trouble believing. It was as if his subconscious tried to fill the blanks with logical sounding conclusions. He battled the gym leader, he was winning, he fainted and thus forfeited. That would explain why he was woken up by Ash. But it didn't explain where the gym leader disappeared to and why Team Rocket was there. Did they knock him out? Were they impersonating the leader? Such conclusions seemed logical enough, thus for lack of more information, Gary believed them.

They were interrupted by the sound of Giovanni's cell phone. He hurried to make it stop but it was too late. The loud mouth Bellsprout in Ash's arms woke up and started to wail again. In no mood to deal with any more craziness that day, Giovanni stepped outside, "this is an important call," he was barely heard beyond Belle's cries.

Away from the noisy Bellsprout, Giovanni answered his little black cell phone with the red R. The device was so small that it looked as if he was holding nothing but his hand to his ear. "What is it?"

"Progress report," Archer's voice came from the little cell phone. "Proton had a psychologist examine Poisona due to her unusual reactions to hypnotism. She has a split personality that has somehow been acting as a natural defense. When she's in that state she becomes violent and holds no recollection of her normal self. It's going to take some time to figure out how to put her in a trance without bringing out her second personality."

"Than we don't know anything new," Giovanni had already used up all of his patience. He couldn't muster any more, not even for Archer.

Archer could almost feel the tension and anger transmitted along with Giovanni's voice. He must be about to snap. "There's more," Archer was quick to add. "Luke returned soon after you left. His trip to Cianwood was fruitful, he brought back a journal. The journal was written in a very general way and spoke of various unrelated cases, but I have high hopes that there are answers hidden there. Laiki and an assistant of her choosing were put to the task of deciphering the events mentioned in the journal. She has a talent for prying. She said they were making progress and will have the full report soon. They might finish it on time for your return." With that last statement, Archer also indirectly asked about when Giovanni would return to Viridian City.

"It better be ready," Giovanni's voice was quite similar to a low growl, "I'm heading back right now." If he didn't, he might just throw his good gym leader reputation out the window and blow his cover with Ash in the process.

Archer didn't expect Giovanni to return right away, but it shouldn't be a problem in terms of the report. He would send a reminder to make sure they finished it at top speed. "There is one more thing, the police asked for the mayor's assistance in capturing any remaining members of Tempest. I can only interpret this as the Viridian police suspecting we're holding the Tempest leaders prisoner. The Viridian police already know a lot, but they won't make a direct move unless they're pushed to it. They have an idea of what they're up against, even if it's not the full idea. I would suggest handing Bollux and Solo over to them. We have no use for them anyway."

Giovanni wasn't in the mood for 'peace offerings' but if they didn't need those two it wouldn't matter. It was best not to push things at that point. If he started a war he would have to finish it. He wanted to be ready to take on the whole world when that happened, not just most of it. He wanted Team Rocket to be in a position in relation to the world similar to that of Kanto, where the world could not function without it. "Fine, give those two up if you're sure we have no use for them. I'll look over the details of the report when I get there."

"Yes," Archer had been meaning to ask something. He might as well satisfy his curiosity even if it was unrelated. He didn't want to push Giovanni's patience further but he needed to know. "What is that infernal noise in the background?"

"A Bellsprout," Giovanni grumbled between his teeth. "When have my trips to Pallet Town ever gone smoothly?" At least this time he hopefully wouldn't return to find his hide out in flames after a trip to Pallet Town. The necessity for a cover up involving Ditto was also not present at the time. He certainly got a headache out of the visit. Maybe it would have been easier to deal with a blazing hide out.

Ending his conversation with Archer, Giovanni took a deep breath and tried to put up a good act. He would be away from the chaos soon, in the safety of his criminal headquarters. When he went back inside, the annoying Bellsprout was still wailing and Ash and Gary were bickering. They couldn't agree to disagree on what was the best way to make Belle cheer up.

"I'm her new trainer, I know what's best," Ash argued.

"I'm a pokemon researcher," Gary countered. "Besides, you're just going to leave her here all the time aren't you?"

"Well, I can't send her out to battle," Ash continued to rock the crying Bellsprout in his arms, but it wasn't helping.

"Is everything alright?" Delia smiled sweetly, her expression as sugary as ever. Her voice was gentle, even if the volume was louder than usual to be heard over the noise.

"Is it always like this?" Giovanni had to ask. He doubted any human being could survive such chaos with a shred of sanity left. 

"Of course not, Ash and Gary haven't argued like that in years. Not that they're really arguing now, not like they use to," Delia recalled. "They were rivals when they were little. You should have seen them running around and bickering." Giovanni didn't look amused at all. "It was nothing too bad, just a couple of hours a day of 'I'm better than you' arguments. They both settled down as soon as a pokemon battle came on TV. Then they would cheer for the trainers and pretend they were there. It was adorable."

"Sounds noisy," Giovanni recalled just why he didn't like children. He was never really around Archer and Ariana's son during his younger years. He did try to train the boy when he was a teenager, but that didn't go well. He concluded he didn't like teenagers either. Perhaps Delia was braver than he thought facing all that. "I need to go take care of business. Ash can't focus on battling like this," the disappointment was evident in more ways than one. Ash was too easily distracted by insignificant things. 

"So soon?" Delia couldn't say she was surprised that he was leaving. She was surprised that he lasted that long. "I understand, thanks for today."

"Why are you thanking me?" They had moved away from the crying Bellsprout and the two arguing young men.

"For coming over and spending some time with Ash," Delia gave Giovanni a knowing look, maintaining a grip on reality. "What was your real reason to come here? Was it only to have a battle with Ash and test his skill?"

"That idea came up while I was already here," Giovanni admitted. They had reached the front door and gone out to the steps in front of the lab. "It was actually Ash who suggested it. Things got in the way," those things were mostly troublesome pokemon. "I came here to find you. I said I would take you to visit Binks. Luke is in Viridian too, you can catch up with both of them," Giovanni would have to prepare Delia before seeing Binks, but for the time being he would move step by step.

"How nice of you to remember, I don't mind going right now. Give me a moment," Delia went back to Oak's front door and opened it to call, "Ash, Giovanni is leaving, come say goodbye." 

"Coming!" It seemed that Ash and Gary had resolved their argument and were working together to make Bell shut up. Their plan was to get her back to sleep. Delia called Ash, as a mother would call her small child to bid farewell to a visiting relative. That interrupted Ash and Gary's out of sync lullaby. Ash went out the front door, leaving Gary to continue the lullaby on his own. "You're leaving so soon? What about our battle?"

Giovanni had to wonder just what Delia considered a good environment. In his opinion a criminal organization might have been better for a child then all that insanity. Pallet Town had definitely become stranger over the years. "I have a lot of things to do. Besides, it's obvious you have a lot on your mind," the annoyance slipped out at that part. Ash assumed that Giovanni was simply annoyed at Belle's loud crying and not at him. "I want to battle you when you can concentrate," never mind that a real trainer should be able to focus on the battle in any situation.

Ash nodded, "I understand. It's too bad that you caught Pallet Town in one of its rare busy days. We'll battle soon, right?" Ash didn't wait for a reply, assuming the answer would be affirmative, "by the way, has the detective said anything about my hat? He might want to try Saffron City. I took a look around before returning to Pallet Town, but I couldn't find any clues. That's where I last saw the thieving Meowth."

Giovanni could feel Delia's insistently reassuring sweet look almost burning a hole through him with her intense sweetness. It was clear to him she was encouraging him to be patient with Ash. She had offered to tag along and she seemed to understand that he would ask for her assistance with something. "I'll make sure to mention that."

"Thanks!" Ash cheerfully exclaimed.

"I'll be leaving too," Delia spoke in a perfectly casual tone with nothing out of the ordinary. "Giovanni is having some friends over and we have a lot of catching up to do. If you get hungry, just ask Mimey to make you something, I told him to listen to you." Ash couldn't operate a microwave if his life depended on it. He was more likely to blow it up, than to get it to work. Thankfully, he had always had someone to cook for him during his travels, most of the time it was Brock.

"Okay, don't worry mom. I need to have a talk with Mimey anyway. I really need to get him to stop waking me up with a vacuum cleaner to the face," it was definitely not what Ash, or anyone, would call a pleasant awakening.

Giovanni decided he really had heard enough. He felt relief wash over him as he made his swift get away from the little town with Delia. His cell phone rang as they drove further from Pallet Town. A sense of deja vu invaded the atmosphere as Giovanni answered it, "what?"

"Dude, Giovanni," Luke was immediately cut off.

"Is there an emergency?" If Luke was calling would bad news, Giovanni was sure he would snap and launch all the big missiles at once.

"Dude, like chill, man!" Luke could tell that Giovanni was angry. Since he had already called, he might as well state his request. "I like totally got back from Cianwood like earlier and I'm like totally still in Viridian, you know? I was like wondering if I could like maybe like talk to Delia, like soon, you know?" Luke's voice reduced its volume and increased its doubt with each word. 

"Stay in Viridian, Delia and I are heading there now," Giovanni agreed. At least it wasn't bad news. He could give Delia a moment to catch up with Luke while he read the report about Mirta's journal. Then he could talk to her about Binks.

"Dude, that's like awesome, you know? Thanks, man!" Luke happily exclaimed with his characteristic cheer. It made Giovanni wonder what would happen if Luke was placed in a situation where he had to deal with a loud mouth Bellsprout and a suicidal Jigglypuff. One would have to be suicidal to doodle on Giovanni's face.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 68: Give me Companions

Giovanni's orange sports car moved away from Pallet Town. "What's my mission?" Delia interrupted the silence. She had been expecting Giovanni to mention it on the way, but he had been quiet and plotting so far.

"Your mission?" Giovanni knew that Delia was aware that he would ask her to do something. He didn't expect her to address the matter so directly and business-like.

"What is it that you want me to do? You were patient today and I know Ash enjoyed your visit," Delia voiced sincerely. "I know he's looking forward to your return. Since you were nice to him today, I'll do something for you. I don't mind if it's for Ash's sake. Go ahead, say it directly."

"Since you asked," she was still the same Delia. She was still thinking of others before herself. Yet there was something different in the way she spoke to him, so bluntly. She appeared to have become less idealistic in his presence. Giovanni wasn't sure he liked it. Her new direct attitude would at least make things flow easier and faster. "Binks has not been himself lately. He's quite a genius; his true ability began to show after he was able to work with other scientists. I could tell his skill had increased after his antidote project with Professor Oak. Then he had a chance to work with other knowledgeable scientists on New Island and learn from them. The New Island Laboratory was ultimately destroyed in an accident." 

The headquarters Mewtwo built for himself were later destroyed by the clone himself. He didn't want to leave any clues about his existence. The records of the experiment were kept on New Island, thus they were destroyed when Mewtwo initially broke out of the lab.

Giovanni went over Binks' story. They had briefly spoken about it when they were in the ruins of the old Team Rocket hideout. "By then Binks had gathered a lot of knowledge from his experiences working with various well known scientists. The problem is that for all those years he had been suffering from periodic attacks of schizophrenia. He was usually not violent, but he couldn't be trusted to stay in control of delicate experiments. Most of the time he just rambled and didn't react when someone tried to talk to him. Sometimes he would cry, others he would yell. He never quite got over Aayla's disappearance and presumed death." It was a lot of information to take in. Giovanni needed to know if Delia could truly handle it.

During the past few days, Delia had become mentally prepared. She nodded silently and paused. She would have to speak steadily if Giovanni was going to continue trusting her to handle such revelations. "Go on, this happened long ago, I... understand." That was not the proper word at all. Delia simply wanted to communicate that she could handle it. There were questions that would probably remain unanswered forever. The most logical answers she could guess were not pleasant. Her voice came out very formal and serious. She held her emotions back so strongly she almost sounded cold. She didn't mean for it to come out that way.

Giovanni noticed that Delia was trying hard to stay in control of her emotions. The passing of time must have made that possible. "What I want you to do is talk to Binks. He's been helpful over the years," Giovanni admitted. He had no use in denying the reason for his interest in Binks' condition. Delia would guess the truth anyway. "Lately, his condition has been worse than ever. He has trouble recognizing people. When too many people are with him at once he hyperventilates. He can't work with a team of scientists anymore, but he's been making some interesting discoveries on his own."

Delia felt sorry for Binks, but she didn't voice it. "What can I do for him? Will he even know who I am?"

"He might," Giovanni considered, "the one who's easiest for him to remember is his sister Laiki. From what I was told, Binks' mother had passed away when he was very young. His father later remarried and Laiki was born. Then both her parents passed away in an accident when she was young. Binks was the primary candidate to assume her custody. That's how she ended up in Team Rocket. She became a pokemon nurse mostly learning on the job. Most of the time, his sister is the only one Binks can remember. Even so, there are times when he can recognize other people. During those times he makes his best discoveries. The peculiar thing about those times is that he speaks as if it was the past. He talks about the epidemic as if it only recently ended. He talks about Aayla and Leah as if they were alive. He thinks Luke and I are the same as in that time. He has asked about you too. He's wondering why you won't visit."

The realization overcame Delia. She was prepared to do something illegal, but not something that went against her human values. "He's not going to get any better if we lie to him!"

"Delia, don't you think I've tried to make him better?" Giovanni sounded truthful. It was a real truthfulness rather than an acted one and Delia could tell the difference. "I've had several doctors try to help him, but it's not working. He's one step away from permanently losing his mind. The only time he's conscious is when he's living in the past. I know it's a lie, but he has nothing more left. I can show you his medical papers. You can even speak to the psychologist who treats him. You don't have to take my word for it."

"I believe you," Delia stated. Her mind was racing. Her voice didn't come out neutral that time. She was truly pained for Binks. "It's merciful cruelty."

"I won't deny that," Giovanni admitted. "It's better than having him go crazy. He can at least be a little happy this way. Laiki is aware of the situation and agrees." His expression was serious, "Delia, this is a very delicate situation. If you're not absolutely certain you can handle it, don't try. If you break down in front of Binks he could be lost forever. He has lost consciousness in the past after looking at the truth too directly. If he doesn't go insane, he might end up in a coma."

The weight of the responsibility felt very heavy on Delia's shoulders. "If I can't put up a good enough act, I could basically kill him?" Not kill but close enough. Binks could be doomed to never again be himself or to sleep without waking up. 

"That's a possibility," Giovanni was completely serious about it. "It's vital to play along with what he says."

Delia had to take a moment to let it all sink in. She didn't expect the situation to be that serious. She thought she was prepared but it was all too intense. "It's been so many years. Can he really believe the past is now?" Delia feared that Binks would take one look at her and just drop unconscious. She couldn't forgive herself if that happened.

"Don't worry, you haven't changed," it could be seen as a compliment, but in the current situation, neither cared to notice. "Laiki used to be a little girl in the time period Binks relives. She's a little older than Ash now and Binks doesn't have any problems with that."

Delia sighed deeply, "I admit I wasn't prepared for this, but I will help. I'll be careful and I'll need to be well informed. I'm doing this for Binks, not so you can use him." She made sure to specify.

"I know," Giovanni expected as much. "There's something else you should know. Remember how you used to phrase things in a certain way to get me to agree?" 

Delia didn't like the sound of that. Was her position worse than she thought? Was it about Binks? "Blackmail?" She questioned suddenly, with a more aggressive tone than Giovanni could ever expect from her. "It's not going to work, if worse comes to worse I'll tell Ash the truth myself. I don't fear Team Rocket."

Giovanni was taken aback; he would never imagine Delia would speak to him like that. "That's not what I meant," he quickly amended. "I only intended to explain why this is in your best interest and in Kanto's." He couldn't give her a full explanation because he didn't know it himself. He reanalyzed his decision to trust her. It was foolish to still believe in Delia like that. He held all the cards, he had Team Rocket, he had power and influence. Yet somehow, Delia had always managed to come out on top of seemingly impossible situations. Despite her normally forgiving nature, sweet demeanor and gentle attitude, she was not someone to be taken lightly. 

Delia stopped the motions of her hands petting Persian. Her eyes were focused on Giovanni while he looked at the road ahead. "Yes I know; Kanto is your hostage. Actually, not just Kanto, I'm aware of that. It still won't work, Ash is more important to me." She paused in silent reflection before continuing. "It's ironic; in the past I could never understand how you were willing to sacrifice everything for your goals. I thought it was selfish, I wondered where your conscious had gone. Yet here I am, saying that I'll let Kanto fall if it's to keep Ash safe. I guess I can understand extreme priorities after all. Of course, I would rather not allow that to happen." Since the night of the battle against the Tempest leaders Delia had been preparing herself to deal with Giovanni. If he wanted something from her, he would have to earn it.

Giovanni let a moment of silence pass before speaking again. He decided not to go back to the subject at hand just yet. Instead he admitted, "you took me by surprise. I have no intentions of blackmailing you, but I see you've become more cautious." She made no comment and he continued, "can I at least trust your secrecy given that I keep my word about Ash?"

"Of course!" Delia energetically assured. "I'm not going to ask for the impossible." Many thoughts were conjured on her last sentence. There were things that Giovanni would do and things he wasn't willing to give up. She understood that far better than ever.

Giovanni decided to continue with what he was going to say, though he spoke in secrecy. "We believe Poisona's true plan was put in motion before our battle. Bollux and Solo will be handed over to the police; Poisona is being kept for interrogation. I can't tell you much else, because I don't know." There were several details that he skipped over. "Let's just say that we have acquired a strange substance that we think is related to Poisona's true plans. Our clues are few right now, but if the substance is analyzed, maybe we can find a lead. For all we know Kanto could be sinking further into danger as we speak. We need a clue as to what exactly has been set in motion."

"Binks is good at that sort of thing," Delia finished, catching on to where Giovanni was going with his explanation. "I remember Professor Oak mentioning what an amazing researcher Binks had been when they worked on the antidote. It seems he has the ability to absorb the knowledge used by others very quickly."

"Exactly," Giovanni confirmed. "Even if his mind frame is in the past, his later knowledge somehow remains. I can't really explain it, that's just the way he is. If it's for the sake of both Binks and Kanto, will you help?"

"Alright," Delia agreed. "I will not risk Binks' health," she firmly assured. "You'll have to hear me out; I'll have questions and opinions for everything. You'll have to at least listen. Don't assume I'll help with something without first discussing it with me in detail. You can't count on me that much anymore." This wasn't like her and Delia felt a little guilty being so harsh. She told herself that she was entitled to it and stayed firm.

"Fair enough," it was all that Giovanni could realistically expect. He noticed then that his trust and expectations for Delia had not been truly logical. Maybe she wised up and stopped being an idealist, or perhaps a small part of him could be a little idealistic about certain things at times.

The rest of the drive to Viridian City went by in silence. Tension seemed to once more build up between Giovanni and Delia. It was a different tension than before. This time the atmosphere was more than resentment and wariness, it carried guarded thoughts and defensive looks.

When they arrived at Viridian City, a multitude of panicked voices greeted them. Bollux and Solo had been handed to the police as soon as a rookie came by. He had been instructed to wait for Jenny and the others before proceeding. His only real mission was to assure the mayor that the police was on their way. Rune was serving as a sort of mediator between the mafia and the police, it was best not to question the arrangement. 

Jenny had another situation to take care of due to a catastrophic car accident. The event was completely coincidental and unrelated to Team Rocket. Archer wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible so as to not raise the suspicions of the citizens. 

Bollux and Solo had been pushed into the back of the police car. The windows were dark enough so that they couldn't be seen. The nervous rookie didn't know how good they were at emergency escapes. It wasn't long before he realized that he failed to properly lock one of the doors in the back. It was a grave mistake.

Bollux and Solo jumped out of the moving car with their hand still cuffed behind their backs. Jenny's motorcycle zoomed past Giovanni's car. The orange sports car had just reentered the main street from one of the smaller streets he took to avoid the traffic jam on the main street. The officer's rush and the people's yelling made it obvious there was something going on.

Seconds after Jenny hurried past them, three police cars followed, zooming by in the lane next to Giovanni. With the way his luck was going that day, Giovanni could only assume that it would get worse. He hurried after the police cars that parked ahead blocking the road. With no way to get past them, Giovanni parked his car on the side of the street and got off.

Delia was quick to follow him, observing their location. The store where the car of her kidnappers crashed was almost fully repaired very quickly. She didn't bother asking Giovanni about what was going on, he didn't seem to know. She followed him towards the panic where people couldn't decide if they wanted to run for cover or stay and watch. The two handcuffed men made their get away while the rookie chased after them on foot. It was impossible to move in the police car with all those curious people in the way.

The chase was joined by Jenny and the other officers as they tried to hurry after the two men. Giovanni and Delia made their way through the crowds hastily. Solo got lost in the multitude; he was quite a speedy runner. Bollux was a tad slower and took off in a different direction, desperate to get away. Bollux was confused and panicked in his rush to escape. People jumped aside, afraid to get too close to the criminal. They opened a path for him then stood watching him run, while gossiping about the event. They were inadvertently helping him get away.

Jenny and her Arcanine were in pursuit of Solo, while Bollux had the unfortunate luck to find Giovanni in his path. That was all he could take, Giovanni could not hold down his anger any longer. Before Bollux had time to panic and change course, Giovanni delivered a solid punch to his face. Bollux fell several feet back with the momentum he carried. He lay motionless but alive on the street with a broken nose.

The officers were quick to reach Bollux. They pulled him to his feet and took him away to a police car. They didn't dare to question the fierce looking gym leader. The curious people who had stopped to watch began to clap. In their eyes, their good gym leader was a hero.

Delia wasn't sure what to say about the entire event. It all happened very quickly. "Let's go," Giovanni placed his arm around her shoulders, leading her away from the multitude. She decided not to make a scene and allowed him to walk with her like that until they returned to his car. Persian closely followed them back.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Viridian Rocket Headquarters, Laiki and Pixel were putting the finishing touches on their report about Mirta's journal. They had received a call from Archer telling them to have it ready immediately. Laiki read over it one last time. "It looks like it's ready. Figuring this out was like a riddle, you have a good eye for logic and word games," Laiki commended.

"So do you," Pixel smiled, "at first I thought it would be lame, but it was actually kind of fun," she admitted. "Shall we send it in?"

"Yeah, this is good to go," Laiki emailed the report to Archer. She stretched and leaned back in her chair. "It feels like the calm before the storm all over again," she commented.

"Maybe," Pixel would rather not go through the exhausting chaos of a traitor hunt again any time soon. She wanted to continue her technological studies and hacking training in peace until she was ready to take on important missions. "Whatever's going on, it shouldn't affect Team Rocket like before," she hoped not.

"I don't think so. The executives seem concerned. The boss has a lot on his mind, I imagine. Anyway, whatever this is, I'm pretty sure we can handle it." Laiki let out a relaxed breath and watched what Pixel's pokemon were doing around the medical facility. 

Peachy, the Pikachu, was taking a nap on one of the beds after having devoured a large meal. Her table matters were surprisingly good, except for the part about her disregard for portions. She could eat more than one would expect a Pikachu to consume. She slumbered peacefully, her right ear twitching slightly in her sleep. She had a blue bow on her left ear.

Pyro, the Charmander, was sitting on Laiki's lap, his head resting on her chest. He loved being held, petted and cuddled by girls. Be it pokemon or human, Pyro had a very Brock-like personality. He was a happy pokemon since he had a female trainer to battle with him and a female nurse to take care of him. Plus he was currently the only male pokemon on Pixel's team. His only complaint was that Pixel never let him sleep on her bed because she feared his tail would set the sheets on fire. Every night he was put in his pokeball, even if Peachy and Purry were allowed to sleep on Pixel's bed. Peachy, similar to her trainer, slept like a rock. Even if she was tossed around and unconsciously used as a pillow, she wouldn't wake up. Purry preferred to sleep on a pillow on the floor or with Comet, since Pixel moved around too much and kept waking her up. Both Pixel and Purry had grown used to Peachy's soft, "chu" snores.

While Peachy napped and Pyro cuddled Laiki, Purry occupied herself with a book. She didn't know how to read the human language. It didn't matter; she was only looking at the pictures anyway. She had tried to tell herself that the boss' Persian was out of her reach. She had not even exchanged a single word with him. She wanted to evolve into a beautiful Persian. She was strong enough, but her fear that the evolution wouldn't make her pretty enough, stopped it from happening. If evolution didn't turn her into a refined creature that could fit into his world, all her hopes would be lost. It was a lot to face. She didn't want to stress about it so she distracted herself looking at one of Laiki's pokemon medical books.

"I just thought of something," Laiki mischievously voiced. "What is to you and me just a normal pokemon anatomy medical book, must be something else to Purry. She's a pokemon; there are pictures of male pokemon in that book. It must all be a lot of high rated eye candy from her point of view," she laughed.

Purry could feel her cheeks turning almost as red as Peachy's. The supposedly sleeping pokemon giggled with an amused, "pi pi pi." It was then that Purry realized her sleeping "chu" sounds had ceased a short while ago. Peachy was awake and listening.

Pyro pouted with a whiny, "char." He did not need to hear about his teammate's reasons to look at that book. It further offended him that Purry had never taken an interest in him and would rather look at a book than him. Peachy insisted on treating him like a sibling and ignoring all his advances. As for the humans, he knew his chances of romance were null, humans only like other humans. Laiki had two humans whom she liked. Pixel didn't have a boyfriend, but it was clear her tastes gravitated towards human males only. Regardless of that, if it was up to Pyro, no one would ever lay a finger on her. 

"I think Comet might be right, sometimes it's best not to know what goes on in your head," Pixel teased. "Speaking of Comet, where did he disappear to? I thought he had some overdue time off to reclaim. Did he go on another mission?"

"He's still here," she referred to the Viridian Rocket base. Laiki's eyes flashed with a hint of worry. She quickly hid the negative emotion and smiled. "With all the work he's been doing he's been short on sleep. He's in his room getting some rest. I bet you could hack the keycard lock. I'm sure he wouldn't mind your company," Laiki winked. "If you don't, I might go keep him company myself."

"I thought he was like a brother to you," Pixel reminded.

Laiki laughed, "he is, I just wanted to see you get jealous."

"I'm not jealous," Pixel pouted stubbornly. "There's nothing going on, he's like a brother to me too," she insisted.

"Yeah right," Laiki didn't believe it for a second. "Only if the word brother means secret crush in another language. That would be a weird translation so let's stick to our language, okay?"

Pixel rolled her eyes, "you're delusional. Besides, I only like older men. Comet is too young."

"I happen to know you're a big fan of sci-fi," Laiki stated with a grin, the mischievous look in her eyes never left. "There are less years between you and Comet than between Padme and Anakin."

"It's my favorite movie series, but that's not enough to convince me," Pixel stood her ground. If she admitted to occasionally having a liking for Comet, Laiki would stretch the truth and assume they were secret lovers.

The nurse laughed and teased her friend. Through all of it she couldn't help it but to worry about Comet. She really did care about him like a brother. He had always been energetic and cheerful. Laiki wondered if what she feared was truly happening. She hoped the time never came. Still, she couldn't discard the possibility. When it happened, no real warning was expected, she knew it could all be very sudden. She hoped Comet's exhaustion was all the result of his lack of rest and nothing more.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 69: Give me Connections

Giovanni and Delia entered the Viridian gym and headed towards the back, past the arena. Giovanni slid a keycard into the electronic lock of a door and pressed a numeric combination on the small pad next to it. The door was unlocked and they were allowed into a small room. The room was occupied by nothing but a little sitting area and an elevator. They took the elevator down to the Rocket headquarters where Giovanni unlocked another door. Both doors were locked behind them.

The long underground corridors brought a heavy sense of deja vu to Delia. It had been many years since she had walked down those tunnels, but she remembered them clearly. "Dudes, you're here!" A familiar voice made Delia's face brighten. Luke rushed down the long hall lined with doors to greet them.

"Luke!" Delia hurried to close the distance between them, greeting Luke with a friendly hug. "It's been so long, I'm really glad you seem to be doing well."

"Yeah, everything's like totally fine, you know?" Luke truly believed that Comet needed rest simply because he had been working too hard. Comet was used to working at night and sleeping during the day, so being awake during the daytime must have also affected him. Luke was completely unaware of the possibility that worried Laiki. He was well aware of Comet's condition, but didn't know of the true dangers associated with it.

Giovanni approached them at a normal pace, "I have some business to take care of, so I'll be busy for a while. Luke, you can take some time off."

Luke's already cheerful face became happier. "Thanks man! I like totally appreciate it, you know?" With only a tired nod, Giovanni went on his way.

"We have so much to talk about," Delia pushed her thoughts about Binks to the back of her mind for the time being. She wanted to have a happy reunion with Luke.

"Like totally!" Luke cheered, "let's like go into like one of the conference rooms, you know? We can like sit there and like no one will interrupt, you know?"

The two friends found an empty conference room to occupy. The floor matched the metal of the halls and the walls were bare. The table was moist as if it had been recently cleaned. The standard black chairs with wheels were nothing particularly elegant. They resembled what could be found in any office, but they were comfortable enough. "Where to start?" There was simply too much to be said. "I met your son, he told you, right?"

"Yeah," Luke's face was filled with pride at the mention of his son. "Comet's like a good boy, you know?" The phrase would contradict what other people would think. "I like mean he's like totally a good Rocket, you know? He's like a good son, you know?"

"I know what you mean," Delia smiled, "he reminds me a lot of you. You two look almost identical." Their faces were especially similar. Their eye and hair color was also exactly the same. Comet's haircut was slightly longer than Luke's, but still relatively short. Their skin tone was their only real difference, aside from their age.

"I like hear that a lot, you know?" Luke laughed. "Comet like grew up here, like in Team Rocket, you know?"

A flicker of sadness passed through Delia's eyes at the thought of Ash. He, unlike Comet, had grown up without his father. "Was it difficult?" That was not the question Delia meant to ask. "I mean... not to pry." It was too late to take it back.

"It's like okay. You can like ask me like anything, you know?" Luke assured. He thought back at Comet's younger years. "I like didn't see him much when he was like little," Luke confessed. "I like had my missions, you know?" He might as well be honest about it, or as honest as he could be. Delia must have been waiting to know what had happened since the last time they saw each other. 

"I remember your letter," Delia recalled. "I was so glad that you wrote to me that time. I wish I could have written back, but I know it was impossible," the memory was bittersweet.

Luke maintained a cheerful expression, "it's like okay now. Do you like remember the Beedrill I like wrote about?" Delia nodded and Luke continued. "She's like still around. She like guards the forest with her bug pokemon friends, you know? If Giovanni like calls her, she like totally comes right away, man!" Luke smiled proudly speaking of the pokemon he had trained.

"That's amazing," Delia was glad they had falling into a relaxed conversation. "Maybe I can meet her some day."

"How about like right now?" Luke offered getting up. "Giovanni like knows where I am. He like won't mind. We're just like going to the forest like near by, you know?"

The fresh air of the forest sounded like a very welcoming prospect. Plus Delia was really glad the atmosphere between her and Luke felt so similar to old times. "Let's go," she happily agreed.

The way out of the Rocket headquarters was different since Luke was in his Team Rocket uniform. They went out through a secret passage in the forest. The umbrella of trees shielded them from the bright sun, allowing the breeze to pass through the leaves. 

"Queen! Like come here dudette!" Luke waited a moment and listened to the buzzing of the bug pokemon near by. It seemed that they were relaying the summoning. A few minutes later, a Beedrill arrived, majestically flying in front of Luke. She had a certain deadly elegance to her. "It's like good to see you again, Queen," Luke petted the pokemon gently. "I like want to like introduce you to Delia."

"Nice to meet you, Queen." She greeted with a friendly smile. 

Luke had introduced this human to her so she must be an ally of Team Rocket. To Queen, Team Rocket was a band of humans who protected the forest. They expanded it to make sure their home wasn't lost to the city. "Beedrill!" She greeted energetically. "Beedrill, beedrill!" 

More buzzing sounds followed as the bug pokemon's message relay system was put into effect. When a pokemon heard someone calling out, they repeated the message passing it forward. The message would echo through the forest in that way. Eventually, it would reach its target as long as the receiver was in the forest. An answer would then be transmitted in the same way.

"She's like calling someone, you know?" Luke had a good guess about who would come, "I like think she wants to like introduce you to her family, you know?"

A younger male Beedrill and a Butterfree around his age arrived. They exchanged a few words in their language with Queen and flew near Delia.

"It's very nice to meet you all," she gently petted the pokemon. They seemed to get a trust worthy impression from her.

"This is like Queen's son, Prince," Luke introduced, "and this Butterfree is like his lady love, Pretty. She was like caught by Pixel, one of Comet's friends, when she was like a Caterpie. Then Pixel like let her go after she like evolved into Butterfree, so she could like be with Prince, you know?" 

The story reminded Delia of when Ash freed his own Butterfree. "I've met Pixel before," Delia smiled. "She's seemed like a good girl... a good Rocket I mean." 

"She like is, even if she's still like a rookie in like some ways, you know?" They all sat in the nice atmosphere of the forest to have a long talk. "Like where have you been like all this time? Did you like stay in Pallet Town?" Luke got things started.

Delia saved her questions about Luke and his family for later and first old her story. "Yes, I never left Pallet Town," Delia remembered her first few weeks there. It had been difficult, but she persevered. "Maybe you've heard by now, Giovanni and I have a son."

Luke nodded, with a small flicker of sadness barely perceptible in his blue eyes. "Ash, I like wanted to ask about him, you know?"

"He's a pokemon trainer aiming to be a master," Delia always smiled when she thought of Ash. "He can be pretty stubborn and always wants to be the best at everything, just like you-know-who. He grew up in Pallet Town and went on a journey when he was a few months away from his eleventh birthday. It wasn't easy letting him go, but I'm glad he was able to see the world. He got engaged recently to Misty from the Cerulean gym. He really has grown up so fast in my eyes."

Luke felt identified with that, "that's like how it is, kids like grow up fast, you know? Then like the next thing you like know, they're not kids anymore, you know? I like guess I shouldn't like really say that. I like only saw Comet a little when he was young," there was no real bitterness in his voice; albeit a hint of regret was present.

"You had some dangerous missions, that's understandable," Delia decided to be accepting. She knew Luke was a good person and she could never judge him harshly for staying in Team Rocket. Besides, if Comet's mother was a Rocket as well, then where else would Comet go? "So Comet stayed with his mom most of the time?" Delia couldn't deny the fact that she was curious. 

Doubt overtook Luke for a fleeting moment and he looked away. He looked back at Delia instantly, hoping she didn't notice the change, but she did. "She like passed away."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Delia felt bad for having asked. She didn't want to bring painful memories to Luke.

"It's like okay; it was like a long time ago," Luke tried to lighten the conversation again. "She was like..." he paused in deep thought, "I'd like to say she was like a lot like you..."

The hidden meaning of the words was completely lost on Delia as she tried to steer the conversation towards a more cheerful topic.

xoxox xox xoxox 

Inside the Viridian Rocket headquarters, Giovanni was studying the report about Mirta's journal with the four Rocket executives. They were all reading from black laptops with red Rs.

"Interesting, they were able to identify what entries referred to Akira, or rather Secura, even if no names were mentioned on the journal," Ariana observed. It was probably done as a measure of privacy. That way only the one who wrote the journal would be able to easily interpret it.

Mirta's journal spoke of many of the children she took care of in the orphanage at Vermilion City. Without any names being mentioned, it was difficult to find the proper entries. The report referred to various excerpts and the pages where they were found. It seemed that Mirta had stopped writing years ago, but she didn't write too often to begin with, thus there were big gaps between the dates. The journal must have been forgotten, to be rediscovered and used again at a later date, soon to be stored away once more.

The first excerpt in the report referred to page fifty, the journal pages had been numbered for convenience. "I failed to keep her here, the girl entrusted to me in a stormy night. She has gone with a man who offered her fame." All the entries were written in a similar ambiguous fashion. Taking Akira's history with her agent into account, it could be concluded that she was the girl entrusted to Mirta in a stormy night. That was the main clue.

The journals pages were filled with references to children in such ways. The girl entrusted to me in a stormy night, the boy with bright eyes, the girl with long hair, the child of cold December and other such pseudonyms. The next excerpt was from page ten. There was more written in-between about Secura's childhood, but such mundane stories were irrelevant to the investigation. "I'll never forget that stormy night. She came to me and entrusted me with her child. I begged her to stay with the girl, but she refused. Leaving her with me was the best she could do for her daughter, she insisted. How I wish for you to see the light, you who are of the same family as I am."

Among a sea of words, those few sentences held the key to unlocking Akira's past as Secura and her origin. Secura's mother entrusted her to Mirta. That woman happened to be related to Mirta. From that point on an investigation was conducted on Mirta. Hacking the citizen databases was easy with some help from Prism. Pixel's Porygon generally preferred to reside in her computer and rarely came out. 

The discovery from the journal was quite interesting. Mirta Stass had a relative who stood out, her name was Aayla Stass. The name was familiar to Laiki and she knew the executives and boss would be able to reach conclusions with that information. The last part of the report included a peculiar file hacked from the Vermilion City hospital. Aayla Stass had checked in to give birth, but her child was supposedly stillborn. The baby would have been the same age as Secura. Reading through the journal was very time consuming to find those little clues. Archer had announced that he needed the report right away, thus Laiki declared that it was enough.

At first Giovanni was disappointed by the short length of the report. However, that short report spoke volumes to those who knew of the past. The four executives remained silent as realization washed over them. The journal was a collection of sporadic thoughts, yet it all fell into place. 

Everything made perfect sense. When her daughter was born, Aayla was still with Tempest. Rumors had run through the streets in the past that someone was expecting a child from the leader of Tempest, Venom. They apparently turned out to be nothing but rumors, but that wasn't true. With all the information that had been gathered, it could be concluded that Aayla did give birth to Venom's child. The baby turned out to be Secura, who was later known as Akira. She grew up with Mirta in the Vermilion orphanage, without knowing they were related. Maybe Venom had experimented with his unborn child. Perhaps Aayla felt guilty and faked her daughter's death, secretly leaving her in Mirta's care.

"What were you talking about when I came in here?" Giovanni's mind was racing.

Petrel thought back to the specific point in time in which Giovanni entered the conference room. "I was complaining about my water bottle being warm." 

That detail was enough to set Proton's mind in motion. "Then I said, at least you can still drink it, unlike the water from the stream that killed a bunch of pokemon. Petrel asked which stream, and I said the one between Pewter and Cerulean. It was something I saw on the news."

Archer followed their train of thought as if they were all connected, "let's not jump to conclusions."

"It's not such a big jump," Giovanni thought about the worse possibility. "Akira's blood was in that stream, I saw her bleed into it. She's Venom's daughter, this could mean-" The sound of Giovanni's and all four executive's laptops interrupted in perfect unison. The devices were letting them know that an urgent report had reached their inboxes.

They quickly opened the encrypted message from the laboratories, entering IDs and passwords. The conference room fell silent as they all read. Their expressions were mirrors of surprise and worry.

"As I thought, Akira's blood contains a virus that kills pokemon," Giovanni voiced. "This could be worse than last time. The only reason the epidemic ended was because we found the data for the antidote. We know nothing about this. Back then, we searched for more data that could be useful. If we didn't find any, it might not exist. Figuring out how to control this will be much more difficult if a full breakout occurs."

"It makes sense," Proton recalled what Poisona said, "Poisona hates pokemon. Getting rid of them is most likely her goal."

Archer was in deep thought, "I suggest concentrating Team Rocket's resources on this before it gets out of hand."

"I second that," Ariana voiced. Proton and Petrel nodded, the action was unquestionable.

"Yes, we have to do something about this immediately," Giovanni agreed. "I want a team investigating the area right away. Find out how the virus spreads. No one from Team Rocket will enter that area with Pokemon; I don't want the infection reaching any of the bases." Giovanni paused as he came to a realization. "Get Akira out of here immediately and isolate her. I want this place clean of any traces of that virus!"

Persian was born at the end of the crisis and didn't fully understand what was going on. He knew it was serious and it was bad, that much was certain.

xoxox xox xoxox

In Pallet Town, Ash had finally escaped from Belle for a while. After Giovanni and his mother left, Ash returned to his previous task of helping Gary put Belle to sleep. Their off key lullaby succeeded in making Belle shut up, though she was wide awake and twitching. Fearing that the duet would continue, the Bellsprout wisely decided to remain quiet. She was staying at the Oak research lab, while Ash went home to talk to Misty on the phone.

Tango music played while Mimey danced with the vacuum cleaner as he cleaned the house. That pokemon could be quite a neat freak at times, and sometimes just a freak. Ash passed by quietly, deciding not to disturb Mimey, and went up the stairs to his room. The room was the same as ever. It still had the same pale green walls, the same blue carpet and matching blue curtains. 

The small TV in the corner was rather outdated, but still worked. Unlike the one downstairs in the living room, it had not been replaced for a newer model. A big Snorlax shaped pillow was on the floor in front of it. The bunk bed was neatly made, courtesy of Mimey. The shelves were packed with various things. Books, figurines and pokemon shaped things lined the wooden furniture. The collection included a winged Rapidash Christmas ornament. A faded poster on the wall showed the three starter pokemon from Kanto.

Ash lay down on his bed with his cell phone to his ear after pressing the speed dial. Misty answered on the first ring. "Ash, can we talk now?"

"Sure," he didn't realize how urgent she sounded. Ash didn't pause before getting started on his narration of the day's happenings. "Remember what I told you about Belle yesterday? She was still crying non-stop today. I had Gary babysit for a while, but then he told me that Belle was mine because Mrs. Alderaan's will said so. It's probably because she liked mom's cooking and I used to be the delivery boy before I left on my journey. At least we got Belle to keep quiet by singing to her. Honestly, I'm not sure if she cheered up or if she stop crying so we would stop singing. If that's the reason then it was Gary's fault for being off key," all in all Ash was more off key than Gary.

Misty listened to Ash's narration without getting a word in, she didn't even try. She allowed him to vent for a while.

"When you called me today, I was going to tell you about Jigglypuff," Ash continued. "To start the story from the beginning, I was at home with Belle and went out for some fresh air. Then I found Giovanni right in front of the house. He has the coolest orange car I've ever seen. That reminded me that I should start saving for a new car. What do you think about orange? The color never really caught my attention until just now. I guess there's time to decide. Red, indigo, orange, any of those would be nice."

Ash made a small pause before he went on with his previous narration, "I challenged Giovanni to a pokemon battle and he agreed. We went to Professor Oak's place for the battle because there's lots of room there. Maybe I should say Gary's place, since he's the one running the lab now and he does live there."

Setting the tiny details aside, Ash continued, "we talked for a while and I told him about what happened in Saffron City. He seemed interested. I started to feel weird because it is kind of odd to think that mom's dating someone. At the same time it's not, I mean we all get along just fine. I started feeling comfortable again later."

After again deviating from the story Ash returned to it, "about our battle, we didn't even get started! I just stood there ready to call out my first pokemon when Jigglypuff had to ruin it all. It was going to be a six on six battle! It was going to be epic! Giovanni was pretty angry at having his face painted, but I bet he's laughing about it now." Ash would have lost that bet. "The part that I didn't find amusing in the least was missing my battle. After that, we got cleaned up and Gary returned with Belle. He was babysitting while I battled, except I never got around to battle," Ash emphasized with a pout.

"Than finally, Giovanni had to leave and mom went with him. Gary and I sang to Belle and she's staying at his place right now. I decided to go home and take a break. I remembered to call you so we could continue our conversation from earlier today," Ash smiled, proud of himself for having remembered. He knew Misty liked those little details, albeit he often missed his chances to seize the moment. "Do you think they're on a date right now?" He referred to Giovanni and his mother. "It doesn't bother me, but should it? I don't even know anything about my father. Mom said she would tell me. Then one thing led to another and I forgot. Is it okay to think Giovanni's cool when I don't even know my own father? At the same time, it feels natural, almost as if he was my father," but he wasn't, as far as Ash knew.

Misty sighed, she had called to seek Ash's support, but it looked like he needed her support. "I think you should talk to her. I don't know about your mom's past. Maybe it's difficult for her to talk about your father. Even so, you have the right to know. I'm sure she understands that. Just try to talk to her when you have a moment alone. It's okay that you enjoy being with Giovanni. It's good that you two are getting along and I'm sure Delia appreciates that."

"You're right," Ash agreed with new found determination. "Belle kind of got in the way last time, but not anymore. When mom comes back, I'll ask her directly. I'm sure she'll tell me the whole story if I insist." Ash left his cell phone on his pillow, allowing his eyes to close. Pikachu was comfortably resting on the big Snorlax shaped pillow. He relaxed and let sleep overtake him.

"Ash?" Misty heard the rhythm of Ash's breathing. She was familiar with it after years of camping out together. "Don't fall asleep now," she whispered. "I haven't told you what I'm worried about." She took a deep breath, she had worries to share too, and they were serious, "Ash Ketchum, wake up!" Misty yelled into her cell phone.

Ash jumped awake and sat up on his bed. His nap lasted only a few seconds. He picked up his cell phone from his pillow and yawned. "Misty? Are you still there?"

"Yes, I'm still here," Misty was getting a little annoyed, but maintained a calm tone of voice. "My sisters had a talk with me about keeping secrets. I don't even know the full details and I already have secrets to keep."

Ash's curiosity was captured, "secrets? What kind of secrets?"

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon.


	20. Part 20

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 70: Give me Safety

Ash waited impatiently for Misty to speak. He got out of bed and paced around his room with his cell phone to his ear. "Misty?"

"Secrets about the mafia," Misty confessed. "My sisters are involved with, I don't even know what." She finally broke down in tears. All the pressure and the seriousness of her sisters' insistence on her silence got to her. They didn't want to share too much new information for her protection. "Ash, Ackbar is with them, they have a lot of power. The Roketto clan, Team Rocket, they're already too involved, they can't leave now. They keep saying that everything is fine and life will continue normally. What if it doesn't? It can't be that simple!"

Ash couldn't believe what he was hearing. Misty made him see things in a whole new perspective. They were so desperate to relax, so eager to think things were okay. "Everything will be alright, because I'll make sure of it!" He didn't know what he was talking about, yet some how hearing Ash say those words made Misty feel a little better. "Are you in Cerulean City right now?"

"Yes," Misty tried to stop crying, she didn't want to worry Ash or her sisters. She had been locked in her room for a while and they might go check on her soon.

"I'll be there soon," Ash left no room for argument, as if making an unbreakable promise. "I'll be there really soon then you can tell me about it in person."

"Alright," Misty took a deep breath to calm herself, "thank you."

"I'm your fiance, you can count on me for anything," Ash assured, he couldn't help it but to smile despite the situation. "I'll see you soon."

"I love you," Misty whispered.

"I love you too," Ash replied and ended the call. He didn't have a car anymore, but he knew of a faster way to get around. 

"Pikapi?" Pikachu had woken up and was looking at him with questions in his eyes.

"I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but Misty could use some cheering up," Ash explained. "Let's make sure she's alright."

Pikachu nodded, "Pikapipi!" He jumped on Ash's shoulder as Ash opened his bedroom window.

"Charizard, I choose you!" Ash threw the pokeball out the window.

The red beam from it shaped into the powerful fire/flying pokemon, who let out a mighty roar. The ball bounced back towards Ash with the force of Charizard taking shape. 

Ash caught the empty pokeball and reattached it to his belt. He jumped out the window on Charizard's back with Pikachu on his shoulder. "Full speed to Cerulean City!"

xoxox xox xoxox

Approaching footsteps alerted Delia and Luke that someone was coming. Queen, Prince and Pretty were relaxed. The forest not only had hidden cameras, but also pokemon guardians. Luke knew right away that it meant the bug pokemon of the forest had not detected anyone unfamiliar. Giovanni approached them with Persian following him as usual. Delia and Luke were sitting on the grass sharing stories and laughing. Their little reunion would have to be cut short; there was an emergency to take care of.

"Giovanni," Delia looked at him as he approached, "come to join us?" She didn't expect him to agree.

"Actually, I was going to take you to visit Binks, you can both come," Giovanni was going to need every scientific resource he had available working towards a new antidote. It was a great danger and a great opportunity.

Delia's expression was full of questions. Giovanni had told her about the complications of Binks' condition, she didn't expect him to take her to him so soon. "Is something the matter?" He was rushing things and there had to be a reason for that.

"Not yet," Giovanni hinted. 

Delia got to her feet, giving Giovanni a critical look, "what do you mean?"

"I'll explain in the way," Giovanni began to walk back towards the secret passage in the forest. He made it clear that there was no time to waste. He opened the hidden tunnel and made his way down.

Delia looked at Luke searching for answers, but he shrugged and shook his head. She sighed, feeling as if she was being dragged around. Giovanni better keep his word and explain things on the way. She didn't even know where they were heading. "We have to go now," she addressed the pokemon, "it was very nice meeting you." The two Beedrill and Butterfree responded cheerfully. They had another human ally. Plus they got to see the leader of Team Rocket, whom they had not seen in a while.

After returning to the underground Viridian Rocket base, a grunt hurried to them with a sealed envelope. The Rocket grunt handed the black envelope to Giovanni and quickly went away. The envelope was labeled only with a red R. It gave no hint about its contents, but at the same time spoke volumes about the possible documents that could be in it. 

Giovanni opened the sealed envelope, tearing off the edge. He looked at the papers inside as he walked down the long underground tunnel with Delia, Luke and Persian. Once he confirmed the documents were what he requested, he handed them to Delia. "This is information about Binks."

"First tell me why we're going to see him all of a sudden," Delia inquired with mounting concern.

Luke looked back and forth between Giovanni and Delia. He felt as if he had been caught in the middle of a soap opera lovers' spat. His gaze finally settled on Persian, he was the easiest to look at, since he was the least tense. Luke slowed his pace to walk a few steps behind them. The metallic tunnels seemed more endless than ever.

"Don't you want to see him?" Giovanni knew his fake tone of innocence wouldn't work on Delia. He didn't bother waiting for her to demand an answer before he gave it. "Nothing is certain yet," the introduction to the issue at hand was not very encouraging. Delia's gaze was focused and inquiring. Giovanni had liked those rare moments when she got that look in the past. He never thought a time would come when those looks made him feel he should be cautious. "There have been a few cases of sick pokemon. I don't know exactly what's going on, but it's best to take precautions now." It wouldn't be long before Delia or someone she knew decided to watch the news and heard about it. The illness that was going around was no secret, though it was not yet too bad. "I want Binks to research what's going on so he can come up with a cure before things get worse."

"That makes sense," Delia granted, yet she didn't lose her intense look. "Why do I feel like there's more to it than this?"

"Because there probably is," Giovanni openly admitted, "not even I know what." He met her eyes for a moment before once again looking forward. "This situation will probably reach common knowledge soon if it gets worse. It's no secret; you just haven't been keeping up with the news, have you?"

"I wasn't in the mood to watch the news," Delia felt that she needed to rest and make herself focus in the future. She didn't want to spend all her time theorizing about how anything reported on the news could possibly be linked to Team Rocket. Delia began to read the papers in silence while they boarded an elevator. Giovanni inputted a numerical code, rather than using the buttons to select the level where he wanted to go. The controls also served as an access panel, though few knew of that function.

Binks' condition had been getting worse since Delia last saw him years ago. He seemed to have suffered a severe trauma. Some of the notes mentioned he used to escape from the lab, but that stopped happening after he was assigned to work with Dr. Fuji. It seemed his work kept him busy then and he was very interested in it. After the accident which ended Dr. Fuji's life, Binks took a long time to recover from his injuries. Later, he remained in his private laboratory. The documents mentioned that Binks often lost the notion of time. 

The elevator ride seemed to take an eternity. The temperature rose with the warmth of being so far underground. Finally, when the elevator doors opened, the air conditioner felt sudden and cold. That deep underground level wasn't there before Delia left. There was a long corridor up ahead. Delia's eyes went from the last sentence of the paper, to the long metallic corridor, to Giovanni. "I finished reading," she placed the papers neatly back inside the opened envelope and handed it back to Giovanni. 

The Rocket leader opened the first door on the left. There were several laboratory supplies neatly stashed inside, with a paper shredder in the corner. The documents were turned into confetti after being tossed in the shredder. "Are you ready?"

Delia doubted she could ever be ready. At the same time she couldn't wait to see Binks. "Yes," her eyes spoke much more than her voice.

"I don't need to tell you again what will happen to Binks," Giovanni reminded just in case. Delia nodded, her expression going from doubtful to determined, "act natural."

The walk down the long hallway felt as if it took much more time than it did. The metal doors were closed and sound proof. Small glass windows on each one gave a brief view of the experiments being conducted inside. Delia would have lost her temper if she saw any pokemon being experimented on. Fortunately, there was nothing but unidentifiable colorful substances in vials and beakers.

The suspense piled up as Giovanni slid a keycard through the lock on the door at the very end of the hallway. He entered a numerical password on the little pad next to it and the door was unlocked. Giovanni, Delia and Luke entered and the leader locked the door behind them. 

Delia was taken by surprised by the warm atmosphere she saw. Unlike Luke, she had not been there before. The cold metal walls were covered by wood. A gray stone fireplace was oddly burning in the wall to the right. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't burning at all, the fire was fake.

On the wall opposite to the fireplace there hung a painting of a pokemon. It was not expertly made. It could have been a big fuzzy Rattata or a purple Raticate. The pokemon portrayed seemed to be a combination of both. The shelves below the painting were lined with different awards and recognitions of the scientific world. With Pallet Town being the home of Samuel and Gary Oak, such awards were not alien to Delia. Some of them she had to doubt were real, despite being aware that Binks had enough knowledge to win them. She wondered if they were all part of the atmosphere created in that area.

The wooden floor made Delia's light steps sound off differently than the metal surface of the corridor. The furniture was a dark mauve color. It seemed lived in, but still in good conditions so that it was comfortable. The couch faced the fireplace, while two matching seats faced the couch. There was a little wooden coffee table with a clear glass top in the middle of the sitting area. A lighter wine colored oval shaped rug was under the coffee table, extending to the foot of the couch and seats.

The door that they came through blended in with the brown wood covered walls. On the wall opposite to that door there was another door. The inner door was made of only wood, as opposed to being metal covered in wood. Its shade of brown was noticeably lighter than the walls, closer to a shade of caramel. Somehow, the scent of hot chocolate was constantly in the air, even if Delia didn't see any. There was another caramel colored door next to the fireplace, which was open a few inches.

The atmosphere was overall relaxing until Delia realized that Binks was not allowed to leave. No matter how comfortable a cage was made, it was still a cage. She felt sorry for him being forced to live underground. She had to remember that he was in no condition to live anywhere else safely. Two voices could be heard from beyond the closed caramel colored door, one was male and the other female.

Giovanni looked at Delia, silently asking if she was ready. She nodded reassuringly and looked as natural as she could. Luke exchange another glance with Giovanni before calling, "Dude Binks, we're like here, man!" 

It was at that moment that Delia further wondered why Luke was aware that Binks lived and Comet was kept in the dark. She had assumed it was because seeing Luke's son would make the passing of time too obvious for Binks. She wondered if that was the only reason, but that was not the time to ask.

The caramel colored door opened revealing a very different atmosphere beyond it. The room was completely white, the walls, the ceiling and the floor. Long counters lined the walls filled with laboratory equipment, a laptop computer and scattered papers with messy handwriting. The area was cluttered, but nothing was broken or on the floor. 

Binks stepped through the door followed by Laiki. His brown eyes were mostly dull but shone with the faintest sparkle of life when he saw Delia. His blond hair was much paler than Delia remembered, almost white. Binks looked much older than he was. He was thinner than before, like a skeleton with his clothes and lab coat hanging off him. "You came to visit!"

Delia wanted to cry but showed no hints of it as she smiled. "Hi," was all she could muster to say. She didn't know how to talk to Binks in a natural way when things were anything but natural.

Delia froze on the inside when Binks' face turned sad for a moment, "I thought you didn't want to be my friend anymore." His expression changed drastically to carefree and curious. "Have you been busy taking care of Giovanni's pokemon so he can be a good gym leader?"

Delia forced herself to keep a cheerful expression and a steady voice. "That's right, I've been really busy. Of course I still want to be your friend."

Binks clapped his hands together in happiness, "how wonderful. I knew you would be my friend forever. Tell Aayla and Leah to stop by sometime too. I haven't spoken to them in a long time. I guess everyone got busy after Tempest was defeated."

So far so good, Binks looked more cheerful, coherent and focused than usual. Delia wouldn't know of the comparison, but the others noticed.

"I haven't introduced you, have I?" Binks looked back at Laiki. "I'm sure you've already heard from Giovanni and Luke. This is my sister Laiki. She's still very young but she's an aspiring Rocket. It won't be long before she can run around training pokemon." The time in which Laiki was taken in by Team Rocket was after Delia left. In that sense, Binks had the eras a little mixed up. "I'm telling you, she's growing up so fast. Pretty soon she won't be my baby sister anymore. Just look at how tall she's gotten, last week she was this small." Binks held out his hand, palm down, indicating a height that could only belong to a child.

"It's nice to meet you, Laiki," Delia played along. She felt as if she was being torn apart on the inside. On the outside she smiled sweetly, while the sour acid of a lie ate away at her heart.

"Nice to meet you too!" Laiki chirped cheerfully. She was good at lying. Her acting skills were commendable, a fact that she took advantage of.

Binks went on his knees to look at Persian and petted him gently. "Too big to ride on daddy's shoulder anymore, Meowth?" He laughed in good humor as he stood again. He looked at the partially open door next to the fireplace. "Rattata, have you woken up from your nap?" A shy Raticate watched from the slightly opened space of the door. "Come greet our guests. Laiki, Luke, Giovanni and Persian are here, plus a surprise visitor. Delia has come to visit; it's such a happy day!"

Raticate pushed the door open and entered the little living room. Behind the door there was a bedroom. The walls were covered in wood in a similar way to the living room. The floor was covered by a blue carpet. It contrasted with the wood that covered the living room floor and the white tiles of the laboratory. The carpet had soft lines and swirls in different shades of blue as if to simulate water. 

The bed frame was made of wood with the bed posts shaped as palm trees. The big green plastic leaves formed a partial umbrella over the bed. The mattress was thick and soft. A purple pokemon comforter was extended on the bed with pictures of a Gengar, Haunter and Gastly. Two pillows were in matching pillowcases. Shoes, lab coats and articles of clothing were scattered in the room. There was a rather large collection of ties hanging from the palm tree leaves. The assorted ties varied in colors and patterns.

Raticate was always fragile as a Rattata. She never lasted long in a battle before fainting. How she managed to evolved under such circumstances was nothing short of a mystery. Perhaps the inner battle of her constant worries for her trainer pushed her to become stronger that way. If she had become physically stronger was yet to be seen, but not likely. She had not battled in many years.

"Come now, don't be shy," Binks picked up the small Raticate. "You remember Delia, don't you?"

Raticate looked at Binks with curiosity. For once her trainer looked truly happy. She nodded and looked at Delia with pleading eyes. She didn't speak; the humans wouldn't be able to understand her anyway. Even without words the message reached Delia. It was as if Raticate was begging for her trainer's well being, pleading 'help him.'

Binks sat down on the couch with Raticate on his lap. "Sit, sit everyone, and have some candy." He motioned towards a Blastoise shaped bowl on the coffee table in the center of the living room. "Luke, you're quiet today," he observed.

"Me? Like quiet? No way, man! I'm like as full of energy like as ever, you know?" Luke had been quietly watching everything unfold. So far Binks had not yelled, cried or laughed insanely. That was big progress. He hopped on one of the chairs, leaning forward to the coffee table. He lifted the Blastoise jar's shell off to reveal the overflow of candy. There were yellow candies in clear wrappers and chocolates in silver wrappers. "Like yum!" He took a handful of candy and began to slowly unwrap them.

Giovanni sat down on the other seat, leaving Delia and Laiki to seat left and right of Binks. "Do you think you could start working on some research soon?" Giovanni left out any sense of urgency in his voice.

"Of course, of course!" Binks exclaimed. "I've found the motivation, I'll do it, I'll definitely do it!" He paused and looked thoughtful for a moment, almost nostalgic, "on one condition." His voiced changed from cheerful yet disconnected, to completely serious. "I want Delia to come visit now and then, because I don't want to stop being her friend. In fact, you should all keep coming to see me regularly," Binks seemed to have a quiet acceptance of his captivity. 

"I'm sure we can find the time," Giovanni looked at Delia, "right?"

"Yes!" Delia was quick to reply. She didn't know how she would endure any future visits.

A soft beeping sound came from Binks' watch. He pressed a tiny button on it and ignored it once the sound stopped. "Dear brother, don't forget your medicine," Laiki reminded with gentle insistence.

Binks frowned and hugged Raticate, resting his chin on her head. "It makes me so sleepy."

"It's for your own good," Laiki got up from the couch and walked to the small refrigerator in the corner next to the award shelves. She opened it and retrieved a glass of water, which she handed to Binks. She went into the bedroom and out of sight, entering the door leading to an adjacent bathroom. The medicine cabinet was locked for safety reasons. Binks had never tried to break it open. Laiki returned to the living room with a pill which she deposited in Binks' open hand.

Binks looked at the pill as if it were something unappetizing. The refrigerator was full of appetizing dishes and snacks, but Binks ate little. "I had insomnia before, I wanted to sleep. I don't want to anymore." He rolled the little white pill from side to side in the palm of his hand.

"Dude, you should like take your medicine, man!" Luke encouraged, his mouth half full of candy and chocolate. "It's like just a pill, it like can't taste like that bad, you know? Besides, you can like totally eat something yummy like right after, you know?"

"If I go to sleep, will it all be a dream?" Binks whispered solemnly. "Delia, are you really here, or is this a dream? Has light returned? Laiki was too small, she wasn't here. Giovanni, he needed the light, but the light went away. I was without my light too. I can't be strong like Luke. I can't be strong like Giovanni. What if I'm dreaming? If I go to sleep in a dream, will I wake up in reality? Will you be gone forever? Will you be gone like her? Will you hate us of the darkness?"

A thick and tense silence invaded the room. Delia couldn't stop looking at Binks' eyes, so pained and pleading. She gently placed her arms around his thin shoulders, he looked so fragile. "It's okay, I'm really here. Take your medicine and get some rest, you really need it. When you wake up, you can call me. I'll come visit you again. I'm not going to abandon you."

Binks nodded weakly, "alright," he swallowed the little white pill with the water. He set Raticate gently down on the floor and placed the near empty glass on the coffee table. "I'll get some sleep and this time I won't have any nightmares." He walked to his bed as if in a trance muttering to himself about light and darkness.

"We should let him rest for now," Laiki voiced softly, to break the unbearable silence.

Raticate went to the bedroom and stood watching her trainer in bed under the purple covers. He was still murmuring to himself, but it was quieter and slower. He was falling asleep. As usual, Raticate would stand watching him with worry. Differently from other times, there was also a hint of hope in her eyes.

Giovanni, Persian, Delia, Luke and Laiki exited Binks' living area. The door was locked behind them leaving Binks in his own little world. Since Binks could no longer hear them in his sound proof little apartment, Luke apologized. "I'm like sorry, man!" I was like too quiet at first, you know? He like surprised me, you know?"

Laiki nodded in agreement with a real smile on her face, "I was surprised too. It's been such a long time since Binks recognized people so easily and had something that could be called a conversation. Plus he didn't have any problems with all of us being there at the same time. This is a big improvement."

Delia listened, feeling her heart becoming more pained for Binks. It seemed that everyone was impressed with Binks' apparent improvement. Delia had no real point of comparison, but if that was a big improvement, how was it before? 

"I have some work to look into down here, so I'll stick around," Laiki gave Luke a meaningful look.

Luke interpreted it as a suggestion to give Delia a moment alone with Giovanni. There was only one elevator that went that far down underground. It was monitored by hidden cameras. It would have been stopped if unauthorized personal had somehow figured out the code to make it go down to the deep secret basement. "I will like go up in like a little while too, you know? So you should like totally go on ahead if you're like using the elevator, you know?"

Giovanni guessed they were leaving him alone with Delia. "Alright," he agreed and started walking towards the end of the hall. "Delia?"

Delia was lost in deep thought. Her eyes were a little watery but she hid it well. She woke up from her trance when Giovanni called her and was quick to follow him to the elevator.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 71: Give me Surprises

The elevator doors closed blocking out the cold air conditioner of the hallway. The elevator began to go up towards the higher underground levels of the Viridian Rocket headquarters. The tension in the air floated heavily. "Delia," Giovanni tried to look at her face but she looked away, "look at me."

She lowered her face and shook her head. "I'm fine, I can do this," her voice was shaking. "I can visit Binks again, I can control myself," she insisted almost pleading.

"I know, you did very well," Giovanni saw many possibilities in the future if things progressed as they had so far. "You don't know how much you've helped him."

"I'll make sure he finds himself," Delia didn't care about Giovanni's plans for Binks. She just wanted to help him recover. She couldn't stand the thought of him living as a prisoner used for his scientific knowledge. He was not a thing, not a resource, he was a person.

"You don't have to keep everything bottled up all the time," Giovanni tried to hug her.

For a moment, Delia leaned into him and allowed the overflow of emotions to show. Then she pulled back quickly and dried her eyes with a determined look. "I told you, I'm fine," she glared.

"You've been on edge," Giovanni observed. She wasn't so distant before. Now she was looking at him almost as if he was poisonous to her. The pained yet welcoming look in her eyes was gone.

"Can you blame me? I'm not just going to play your game. I'm not here to give you everything you want. Not anymore," her voice was lowered to a fierce whisper. She was tired of being forgiving.

"This isn't like you," Giovanni spoke calmly. The elevator reached its destination and opened. A few Rockets made their way through the long hallway ahead. 

Delia waited until the Rockets passed by before continuing, "I don't like being this way," she admitted. "It's just that, I'm not supposed to care about you, so I won't. It should be my choice to make." She made it clear the conversation was over. She would speak of the matter no more.

It was an unusual event for Giovanni. Delia had never really confronted him in such a way. She just left, ran away. This time she wanted to face him without the burden of past feelings, but it wasn't easy. She couldn't simply erase the past and she couldn't make herself hate the present. She wanted Ash to know what was his right to know. She couldn't find the balance between being too involved and not involved enough.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, down in the secret underground laboratory, Laiki was getting ready to share her suspicions with Luke. "About Comet," she began in a grave tone.

Luke didn't like the way the topic was brought up, "he's like going to be like okay, right?"

"I don't know," Laiki admitted. "There is something that Binks didn't tell you about him, back when he used to take care of him when he was little. He told me, but I didn't think it was of any use to make you worry."

Luke's expression turned concerned, "like what do you mean?"

"Comet wasn't expected to," Laiki tried to think of a gentle way to phrase it but found none. "He's not expected to live a long life." She stopped there. That was what Binks had told her without explaining it further, but she had reached her own conclusions.

Luke looked absolutely heartbroken. "Are you like saying he's not just like tired? Is this like a sign of like the end?" Luke couldn't accept that. Comet was his son; he wouldn't give up on him so easily. "No! That like can't be, there like has to be a way to like save him, you know?"

Laiki sighed sadly, "I couldn't say."

Luke was determined not to lose hope, "I'm like staying positive, you know?"

Laiki smiled weakly. She feared the worse, having already faced reality, "yeah, I guess there's nothing more to do. I'll believe in him too."

xoxox xox xoxox

Several levels above the secret laboratory, but still underground, Comet was sleeping in his room. Someone calling at the door woke him from his restless slumber. "Comet, are you in there?"

Comet waited for the blurry voice to become clearer as the person at the door called again. He got up and immediately felt dizzy. He fell sitting on his bed again, holding his head. His forehead felt warm, but he was cold. He didn't get sick easily. He had never felt this ill before.

"Comet!" The person at the door was growing impatient. There was a silent pause, then footsteps.

"Wait, don't go," Comet forced himself to get up and tried to steady himself. He quickly opened the door. 

Pixel had started walking down the hall, assuming Comet wasn't in his room after all. She stopped and looked back. "So you were in there. Were you sleeping? What a waste of free time. C'mon, let's run around the galaxy for a while. Remember those two big mutant monsters? I mean the ones in the second area, in the buildings beyond the caves. You said you would help me slay them. I'm a strong mercenary but this isn't a one person job."

Comet took a moment to absorb the information, "oh yes, the game." His brain seemed to finally restart and connect to his surroundings.

Pixel looked impatient, "Have you been training your character at all? I'm ready for the S rank missions! You're not going to get over your cold if you just lay in bed bored out of your mind. Video games are the best way to get over a cold!"

Comet nodded weakly, not quite all there, "I agree. Let me grab my game. Should we go play in your room? Your router is faster than mine and we're going to need a wireless that doesn't lag."

"Yup," Pixel nodded, "hurry up, we have mutant monsters to slay and rare treasures to collect!" She cheered.

Comet got his handheld game from his cluttered room. "Let's go," he made himself smile, as the world became less blurry. "By the way, you look different."

"Custom made uniform," Pixel replied. Instead of the standard boy style uniform she usually wore, and still did if it was cold, she was wearing a slight variation of the Team Rocket uniform. The tshirt had short sleeves; it was black with a red R. She had black jean shorts that went to her knees with a belt carrying several pokeballs. Her black boots had silver metal at the soles. They were heavy, but felt cool, so the extra effort was worth it. Her gloves were short and black. Her dark blue hair was in it's usual ponytail and she wore small silver earrings. The red R on the uniform stood out as always.

"It looks cool," Comet sleepily complimented as he closed his door and followed Pixel. He never used to get sick like that. He wasn't sneezing or coughing as he should be if he had a cold. It was just a fever and exhaustion.

xoxox xox xoxox

Later, Misty was resting in her room at the Cerulean City gym. Her eyes were closed though she was still awake. "Misty!" Ash's voice sounded as if it was nearby. 

She quickly got up and looked towards the window. There he was, riding on Charizard. She opened the window and let him in, "I'm glad you came," they hugged tightly. 

"It's okay, I'm sure we can work something out," as usual, Ash tried to stay optimistic. Charizard complained from out the window. He didn't fit through it. "Thanks for the ride Charizard, I knew I could count on you to bring me here really fast." Ash walked over to the window, petting Charizard with one hand, his other arm still around Misty's waist. "Take some time to rest," he called the fire pokemon back into his pokeball.

Misty's Marill began to talk to Pikachu, answering his curious questions. Marill had been listening to the Waterflower sisters' conversation and was well informed. The two pokemon nodded to each other and headed towards the door, "Pikapi, Pikapipi."

"You're going to spend some time with Misty's pokemon? Okay, see you later Pikachu. Actually, I'll let everyone out," Blastoise, Charizard, Charmander, Charla and Bulbasaur, were released from their pokeballs as well. Charla had been given to Ash's so she could be with her mate and son. Misty's room was suddenly very crowded. "Take a break everyone, go play with Misty's pokemon."

Ash's pokemon expressed their eagerness and made their way out of Misty's room after Marill and Pikachu. Misty's other pokemon were at the gym's pool. There was a bit of a traffic jam at the door as the larger pokemon made their way out. Eventually they all left the room, making their way down the hall to go downstairs.

"Having everyone here makes me feel better," Misty voiced. Being around Ash and his pokemon had become very natural to her.

"I'm glad," Ash smiled. They both sat down on Misty's bed. The mattress felt odd to Ash. "Are you sure this thing isn't going to pop?" He poked at the mattress.

"You always ask that whenever we sit here," Misty laughed, relaxing a little more. "It's a water bed; it was built to be used. It won't pop; it's not a water balloon."

"If you say so," Ash poked at it some more. 

Shades of blue were predominant in the room; representative of the water type pokemon Misty loved so much. Soft yellow was another present color. There was a doll collection in the corner of her room. She had won it many years ago. They remained well preserved. A collection of fishing rods lined one wall with various boxes full of different lures. There was a picture on the nightstand of Ash and Misty together.

"What am I going to do with them?" Misty let out a deep breath. "Maybe there's no use in worrying, but I don't know what to do. The worse part is that they won't give me all the details because it's for my own good, so they say. That just makes me wonder how bad things are."

"Maybe it's not so bad," Ash tried to make Misty feel better, though he didn't know what they were up against. "I know!" He suddenly got an idea. "We should go to Saffron City!"

Misty blinked, not quite following Ash's train of thought. "Saffron City? Why there?"

"Because Jessie and James live there," Ash replied, "they used to be in Team Rocket," he reasoned. "They should know something. Okay, so they must have been kind of low ranked, but maybe they have some information after all."

"It's worth a try," Misty decided, though it was getting late. "We should go tomorrow, first thing in the morning."

xoxox xox xoxox

When the next day came, Ash slept in. He was woken up by Misty who urged him on his way. During dinner the previous day, Misty got the feeling that her sisters were conspiring to take her and Ash shopping as if nothing was out of the ordinary. No direct invitation was made, thus Misty decided it was best to leave before it happened. 

They ate a quick breakfast with their pokemon. The pokemon were all put into pokeballs except Charizard and Charla, who would carry them to Saffron City. As usual, Pikachu stayed out as well, riding on Ash's shoulders.

The trip to Saffron City was relatively short. Ash and Misty soon landed in front of the pokemon day care center as passers stared. Ash had called his mother the previous night, in case she was back in Pallet Town wondering where he had run off to. She was still in Viridian City and would probably stay there for a while. Ash's mind was occupied in helping Misty obtain more information about her sisters' situation with the Roketto clan, better known as Team Rocket. As a result he left his questions for later, but was determined to hear the truth about his father at some point in the near future.

"Thanks for the ride you two!" Ash expressed his gratitude to the two Charizard.

"Yeah, that was fun," Misty thought it would be more difficult than it was to ride on a Charizard. Charla made sure to fly steadily, carrying Misty, while keeping up the pace.

With the two Charizard back in their pokeballs, Ash and Misty entered the pokemon day care center. The little bells on the door rung as they opened it and went in. The cheery atmosphere inside, seemed to be more festive than ever. "Twerps!" James jumped towards them from behind the front counter. "Guess what? Guess what?" He jumped up and down excitedly.

"You found a really rare bottle cap?" Misty knew how much James loved those. It was expected for him to become that excited over it.

"It's even better than that!" James cheered.

"Did you find a super rare bottle cap?" Ash guessed. Misty had stolen his guess and he didn't have time to think of a new one.

"Even better!" James loudly cheered. "I do commend you on knowing the difference between rare and super rare though," he smiled.

Ash blinked, "you mean there's a difference?" He paused and laughed, "of course there is! I knew that," he grinned proudly.

Misty pushed him gently and teased, "no you didn't."

"I did too!" Ash insisted.

"Fine," Misty rolled her eyes with a smile, "have it your way, maybe this is about an ultra rare bottle cap."

"That would be even better than a super rare," James agreed, "but that's not it either." He waited energetically for the right guess to come. "It's something even better!"

Jessie emerged from the door in the back, having heard the conversation. "Why don't you just tell them?" She suggested, "you've been telling everyone. I bet more than half of Saffron City already knows."

"That's because it's something to celebrate," James was smiling from ear to ear. "Wouldn't it be amazing to find an ultra rare bottle cap to commemorate this moment? It's okay though, I'll still celebrate with or without the bottle cap."

"Okay, I give up, what's this amazing thing that happened, that's even better than a bottle cap, better than a super rare bottle cap and better than an ultra rare bottle cap?" Ash inquired curiously.

James nodded, "it's even better than all three put together," he grinned proudly, "Bottle cap is having a baby. I mean I'm having a Jessie. Jessie's having a bottle cap." James got tongue tied again. "What I'm trying to say is I'm pregnant." He paused and thought about it, "I mean we are," he tried to correct it.

Jessie placed her hand on his shoulder, "don't hyperventilate," she joked, "I think they already got the message."

A wave of "congratulations" and best wishes was sure to follow. Meowth soon entered the front room followed by the other pokemon that had been playing in the yard. From there on, the atmosphere turned increasingly cheerful and the purpose of Ash and Misty's visit was forgotten for a while. They also took some time to look at Flareon and Growlie's egg making guesses about if it would be a boy or a girl.

It wasn't until a couple of hours later that the topic came up as to what brought them to Saffron City. Misty was reluctant to mention it since she didn't want to ruin the cheerful mood. Ash was, as usual, rather direct. "We want to ask about Team Rocket."

Silence invaded the cheerfully decorated room where they all sat in fluffy cushions around a table eating cookies. "Ash, don't be so direct," Misty whispered under her breath.

"How did you know?" James was the first to truly break the following silence in puzzled curiosity. 

"No one should know, how did you figure it out?" Jessie insisted upon the question. They both assumed that Ash and Misty knew they were working for Team Rocket gathering information.

"What do you mean?" Misty carefully asked. "Just how much do you know about... things?"

"What things?" Jessie inquired. She was no longer so sure about Ash and Misty knowing about her and James returning to Team Rocket. Their new job was quite different and it defied the law a lot less, but the information they gained would still be useful. They were still allied to Team Rocket in the end.

Misty was reluctant to talk about it. Her sisters had told her to keep things a secret. Maybe if they had given her sufficient information she wouldn't have to go looking for it. A cold chill ran down her spine. "Nothing," she quickly tried to amend what she had said.

Jessie and James exchanged glances. Meowth stared at Ash and Misty curiously. He looked at Pikachu searching for answers. The yellow electric pokemon didn't breathe a single word. The silence piled up until Jessie spoke again, "if you know something we already know, there's no use in hiding it." She ambiguously hinted at the possibility of Ash and Misty knowing about her and James' new positions in Team Rocket.

Taking a deep breath, Ash decided to get things started in the most neutral way possible. "We were just curious because of all the things that happened recently. A lot of rumors were going around. Since you used to be in Team Rocket, we thought you might know."

The atmosphere turned less tense. "You wanted to ask about the past?" Meowth inquired, to which Ash and Misty nodded. "We're supposed to keep it all a secret," he reminded. He didn't want to ruin his second chance at being recognized. He couldn't picture himself living with the boss anymore. He wanted to stay with Jessie and James. 

Meowth wanted to make friends with the pokemon that stayed at the day care center. He wanted to be there to read stories to his little nephew or niece, when the egg hatched. Even so, some recognition would still be nice and he didn't want to negatively affect Jessie and James' careers either. All in all, being allied to Team Rocket was rather convenient, especially with the current arrangement.

Misty couldn't take it anymore, "we know about Team Rocket and the Roketto. We know who Team Rocket is for the mafia," she said a lot but at the same time not much. "In general terms, can you at least tell us how bad the situation is? Even if you only say things that are common knowledge for those that are, or were more involved, that's enough. It doesn't have to be something secret."

"If that's all you want to know," Jessie mused about it for a moment before deciding it was safe enough. "The Roketto clan and Team Rocket are indeed the same. I guess you could say the Roketto clan is like an elite group within Team Rocket, but the grunts are under their command so there's no line to draw. They all answer to the same boss. The identity of that boss is top secret and I can't reveal it."

Misty nodded in acceptance, "I understand," maybe if she found a piece of information that her sisters had not shared and confronted them with it, they would reveal the whole story.

"Is there anything else you can tell us?" Ash searched for more information.

James was lost in thought trying to think of something that wasn't too revealing. Meowth spoke up first, "I happen to know the boss has a big swimming pool. He's also good at boxing and has his own private workout gym." That information was nothing too relevant to the investigation at hand. Knowing random personal details about the Rocket boss would lead them nowhere if they didn't know who he was.

James opened his mouth to contribute some other random detail about Giovanni, but Jessie cut him off. "Okay, that's enough information from our side. Now it's my turn to ask something. Have you heard of any secrets lately?" She looked at Misty questioningly.

Misty looked away, feeling as if her sisters' secret was already too exposed. "No, not really."

"Well," Jessie grinned confidently. "I just happened to know that Team Rocket decided that the Cerulean City gym was off limits. Generally, they don't pick fights with gym leaders, but there are no rules against it." James and Meowth observed Jessie. She was revealing a little too much, but Misty should be aware of the details already. The Waterflower sisters served as the gym leaders, taking turns to fill the role. 

"I didn't know about that," there wasn't a single hint of doubt in Misty's eyes as she denied everything.

"Can we stop?" James snapped. "All of this going around in circles is making me nervous. Are you two planning to make a deal with the mafia or something?" 

Misty paled and Ash adamantly denied it, "no way! We have nothing to do with the mafia. Misty doesn't, I don't, no one does!"

Jessie blinked in realization, "sounds like James hit the nail on the head, didn't he?" She grinned victoriously again, then the possibilities sunk in. This was the perfect opportunity to gain information for Team Rocket. Regardless, she couldn't do it and she knew neither could James. She didn't want to get the twerps into trouble after they became friends. Besides, Delia would never invite them over to eat again. "Alright, come clean, we won't get you into trouble."

Misty paused, she felt that she was in as deep as she could get. She sighed exasperated and tired. "What are the consequences of breaking an oath of secrecy?"

"Scary," Meowth shuddered at the possibilities swimming in his wild imagination. 

"I think it's at least okay to say you have an oath of secrecy," James elaborated.

Meowth nodded in agreement, "yeah, that much should be fine."

"We have an oath of secrecy to Team Rocket," Jessie stated. "It's okay for you to say to whom you have an oath of secrecy."

"The same," Misty revealed.

"I knew it," Jessie exclaimed, "then the Waterflowers really were involved with Team Rocket. I can understand why you would worry. It would tarnish your reputation as gym leaders." She remembered how careful the boss was with his reputation.

James agreed and further added, "it'll be bad for Team Rocket too. If they said you should keep it a secret, it's because they don't want anyone knowing of it. I guess that applies to us in that we are forbidden from committing any acts that have a negative effect on Team Rocket. Either way, we'll keep your secret anyway, right?"

Jessie nodded, "of course, even Meowth can keep his big mouth shut under the right circumstances." The wheels in her head began to turn. Maybe it would be alright to inquire about the Waterflowers at Team Rocket. "James, why don't you take the pokemon to play at the park? Ash and Misty can go with you," she suggested it casually, but it still sounded sudden.

"What are you going to do?" Misty immediately wanted to know.

"Nothing that will affect you. I might actually be able to help you. There are some things I need to know first. Don't worry, I promise on Delia's delicious cooking that I won't get you two into any trouble," Jessie seriously assured, her expression sincere.

Ash and Misty exchanged glances before simultaneously nodding. Their eyes reminded Jessie that they were counting on her to keep her promise. Ash and Misty soon left with James and the pokemon towards the park. Jessie was left alone to make a few calls and find out what was the real limit of the information that could be exchanged. She would speak with caution.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 72: Give me Discoveries

In the Viridian Rocket headquarters dungeon, Poisona was finally revealing new information. After many tries, it was finally possible to put her in a hypnotic trance without triggering her secondary personality to surface. It took a lot of mental tricks and high level psychic and ghost pokemon, but it was done. "Humans are poison, they shall cleanse the world," Poisona's voice was soft and quiet, barely above a whisper in the dim cell. "They'll all die!" She suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs.

Iblis Raymus stood perfectly still and unfazed. She was a tall woman in her mid thirties. Her attire consisted of a black business suit with a small red R on the top right of the blazer. Her hair was long straight and black, parted at the side and tugged behind her ears. She wore glasses with a black frame, behind which cold blue eyes stared. She held an overflowing clip board with many white papers full of illegible yet elegant black ink cursive. The back of the black clipboard had a big red R on it.

Iblis observed Poisona become wilder. She pulled at her chains so harshly, the cold metal bruised and nearly cut her wrists. To the display before her, Iblis only reacted with a quiet, "I see..." Her loyal Gengar and Alakazam stood left and right of Poisona.

Iblis flipped through the papers in her clipboard. She ignored the growls Poisona was making as if she couldn't hear them. "Well Patricia, I've researched your past." More so other Rockets had done the database hacking and investigating, then handed in the report. "I've found that your family was a group of outcasts in Lavender Town to the bitter end. Your parents died in a fire that the police found no public culprit for. They did have a suspect, but that suspect was never prosecuted. They expected the case to fall due to its particularities."

"Charmander!" Poisona wailed so loud that her throat gave out and her voice turned fragmented. "He did it, it was Charmander!"

"That has been investigated," Iblis informed with a tone of superiority. "It turned out Charmander died in its pokeball. A pity isn't it? Who could the culprit be?" She looked from the clipboard to Poisona, eyes cold and piercing.

"Fire, burn, they all burn, fire!" Poisona screeched. The psychic and ghost pokemon exchanged glances with their trainer. The human they were forcing into a trance with their combined powers was nearing her limit.

Iblis did not give the order for the pokemon to stop, so they did not. Instead she continued calm and indifferent, almost mocking. "Let us look at the source of the problem. Why was your family rejected? The parents were nice people, they got along with everyone. The boy was a little mischievous, but nothing out of the ordinary. Then there was the girl. The girl had a split personality and was prone to acts of violence. Oh yes Patricia, I dug out your old files."

Poisona's throat was scratched from all the screaming. She could say nothing more, so instead she let out a raspy growl.

"The parents were reluctant to abandon their little girl in treatment. That is to say, they wouldn't just give her up to an insane asylum," Iblis' glance back at her clipboard and took a moment to read from it. She gave the distinct impression that Poisona simply wasn't important enough to remember. The indifference somehow amplified her image of mocking cruelty.

Poisona had stopped growling. The pokemon's hypnotic powers had put her in a hyper sensitive state. All her deepest memories were hers to reach out for. She would not bring out a memory she hated, she had to be forced to do so. Rubbing the truth in her face should work well to that end.

"That's the reason why they were outcasts; they had a dangerous little girl. Guess what she did next?" Iblis grinned in amusement, "she burned them. Well, her other personality did. I wonder which one is the real you, Patricia?"

Poisona growled loudly, her voice fractured. During the trance she unconsciously tried to confirm that Iblis was lying. She tried to call upon her false memories. However, with all her mental defenses rendered to near extinction, she saw the truth. The memories returned to her mind and tears flowed from her eyes.

Iblis took a few more notes on her clipboard. "You turned your pain to hatred and blamed Charmander. The arsonist was really you, but you couldn't live with that. You wanted revenge because it would convince you of your lie. The more you chased after your lie, the more truthful it felt, but it was still a lie." A breakthrough was near, Iblis could almost feel it. "Humans are poison you say?"

"Virus, pokemon, kill, humans will kill them..." Poisona gasped and sobbed before finally losing consciousness.

"It is the end of the session," Iblis acknowledged, letting out an apathetic breath. "Alakazam, Gengar, return," she called her two pokemon companions back into their pokeballs and turned away from Poisona. "None the less, this information may be useful." The scientists might want to look into the possibilities about how the virus affected humans.

xoxox xox xoxox

In Saffron City, James, Ash, Misty and the pokemon didn't stay in the park for long. There was a feeling of unrest in the air and they all wanted to know what Jessie's private calls were about. "Don't worry, she won't tell on you," James reassured on the way.

When they returned to the pokemon day care center, Jessie was waiting. She put on a grave expression and spoke in all seriousness, "The truth of the matter is..." The others held their breath, "you were worried over nothing!" Jessie laughed.

Misty pouted, "don't scare me like that!" Then Jessie's words truly sank in and she immediately asked, "what do you mean by that? Who did you call? What did they say?"

Ash and James were very curious as well. They once again sat around the same table from before. "Tell us the whole story, I want to know too," Meowth tended to be curious by nature.

"I called headquarters and talked to some higher ups. Actually, since this is an important issue, they put me through much higher than I thought," Jessie wondered just what was so important about that particular situation. "Anyway, the point is you're considered Team Rocket's allies. I was asked to pass along the warning that you shouldn't search for more information."

"I thought you wouldn't tell on me!" Misty reproached.

"I didn't!" Jessie defended. "I simply asked why we couldn't steal from the Cerulean gym. Apparently they were already aware that I knew you, almost as if they expected me to ask about that at some point. I didn't mention you were here. I was simply told that the Waterflower sisters were considered Team Rocket's allies due to some connections. He didn't specify what connections. He said that I should not bring up the topic, but if you did, I should warn you to keep quiet. You haven't signed for your secrecy, have you?"

Calmer after hearing the explanation Misty replied, "no, I haven't."

"You can expect that to happen at some point, probably sooner than later," Jessie guessed, the other Waterflowers have already done so. "What I still don't know is what business is so important with the Waterflowers that the higher ups are so highly aware of it."

Misty sighed helplessly, "I don't think I know the full extent of it either."

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, at the Viridian Rocket headquarters, Delia was occupied in taking care of the pokemon. Archer had contacted Giovanni about the call Jessie made. As expected, there was restlessness among the Waterflowers, especially the youngest. Due to her proximity to Ash, she was to be treated with caution.

Delia was about to quietly enter Giovanni's office without knocking. It was not his gym office, but another underground office. The security was heavier, but since she was around him so often, he granted her a keycard that would let her in. She unlocked the door and stopped with the doorknob in her hand. The door was only open a mere inch. It was enough for the sound of voices to filter out of the office. 

Giovanni was in the middle of a conversation with Archer, "so what do you suggest? We can't just tell her. She'll tell Ash, he'll complain to Delia and who knows where that will lead."

"Yes, I know, it would ruin your conquest," Archer bravely replied.

"I'm serious," Giovanni reproached him.

"This isn't how you usually deal with the threat of bad publicity," Archer reminded. "You can easily arrange it so that none of them will speak of anything that can affect you, ever," the possibility Archer hinted at was obvious to Giovanni. "You don't seem to have intentions of doing that."

"Because of Binks," Giovanni reminded defensively. "That venture proved to be profitable in the past. It can be again."

Delia clenched her teeth and almost burned a hole through the door with her glare. She gripped the doorknob until her knuckles turned pale white. She didn't make a single sound, instead choosing to listen in silence.

"If that's the truth I'll take your word for it. If it's not then good for you," Archer sounded like he was speaking in riddles. 

Giovanni gave the executive a questioning look, "what do you mean? Are you saying Delia is that much of an inconvenience?"

"No," Archer denied with a knowing grin, "I'm saying that she's good for you and that I'm glad you're keeping her around." Before Giovanni could comment on that, Archer continued, "for the sake of getting Binks to work, or simply because you feel like having her around."

Giovanni realized what Archer was getting at, "Delia is... troublesome," it sounded more as if he was convincing himself rather than Archer. The headlines painted him in a good light. The press was all over the incident in which he heroically stopped a run away criminal, then dramatically drove off with his lady. He had been very secretive about his personal life, mostly because it was a life of crime. Allowing the public to see another side of him beyond that of the gym leader did wonders for his image. 

All the rumors, tension and suspicions from the Vermillion massacre were left in the past. People had something new and more interesting to gossip about. It was not too comfortable that the new topic happened to be his personal life, but at least the effect was beneficial. The role of the lady of the story didn't necessary had to be played by Delia, she just happened to be there and they had already been seen together. It was only convenient. Besides, she could be unpredictable and keeping her close was the only sure way to keep her under control.

"I really don't know what you're getting at," Giovanni finally spoke. The image of Delia standing at the world's edge in a Team Rocket uniform reemerged in his mind. He pushed it away; he couldn't allow her to become a distraction. If Archer was making any assumptions, he was wrong.

Archer shrugged and decided not to push the matter further, "you've been working really hard," he commented ambiguously, then returned to the topic at hand. "Maybe it's best if I speak to Misty and assure her that her family isn't in any danger as long as they don't mess up. I guess I should also mention that messing up by accident isn't likely unless they're careless."

"Those who are new to working under Team Rocket are always restless at first. They either rebel and are crushed, or they realize that doing their job right is the best strategy and behave. It'll be the second option with this. Their restlessness will pass," Giovanni predicted. "A warning will suffice this time."

Archer shifted as he sat across the desk from Giovanni. It looked as if he was about to get up, "alright."

Archer paused and remained seated as Giovanni added, "why Jessie? Why would they ask her? Is it because she was on Team Rocket before or is it because they know she's back."

Archer shook his head, "I couldn't say. Anyway, I'll make sure Misty gets the warning."

"I'll tell her," Delia suddenly opened the door, taking the two men by surprise. She entered the office, closing the door behind her. "I don't want Misty and Ash to be stressed. I'll reassure them myself, Misty's sisters too."

"How much sneaking around have you been doing?" Giovanni demanded to know with disapproval.

"None," that was her first time intentionally listening in on a conversation like that. "My keycard only lets me into the common areas and your office." The common areas were accessible to all the Rockets; the cafeteria and the workout gym where among such areas. 

"I see you've taken the time to test it," Giovanni observed, though he had already been aware of that.

Delia ignored his remark and stepped forward. She placed several pokeballs on his desk. "Your pokemon have been fed, exercised and bathed."

Archer felt that he was where he should not be. "If you'll excuse me, I should get back to work now." He had a feeling the discussion had taken a turn down a more personal alley.

"Yes, go ahead," with Giovanni's confirmation, Archer left the office. He closed the door behind him, once again locking the voices in the office within its walls.

Delia took up the empty seat across from Giovanni's desk. Persian watched them with attention. He could feel that they were tense. "It's the best choice," Delia began, "if I'm the one to tell Ash and Misty that everything is okay, they'll believe it. I'll tell them it's possible to live in peace with the mafia." Peace was not the right word and Delia realized that. She didn't know how to rephrase it to sound truthful yet optimistic. 

Delia's thoughts were elsewhere. Archer hinted that he thought Giovanni was keeping her around for a reason other than Binks. She couldn't help it but to wonder. She told herself not to get her hopes up. Practicing that decision was difficult; her sense of hope was very stubborn.

"That would require revealing your position," Giovanni reminded. He felt as if he was fighting a losing battle from the second Delia entered the office. 

"Not necessarily," she concocted a possible scenario. She could say that she had a friend or distant relative in the mafia with good connections. That allowed her to take a look around and be assured that everything would work out. No, that wouldn't work. She could admit to having been in Team Rocket in the past. She could say she had a friend in a high place. That seemed closer to the truth, yet it was still partially a lie. 

Furthermore, how did she come across such a friend in the first place? How would she explain that? Maybe she could be truthful yet ambiguous. She felt terrible about it, but she had become an expert at that. It wasn't enough; the truth had to be told. "I know I told you that I would leave it up to you to tell Ash the entire truth or not. I take it back; he has the right to know. It might break his heart, but these lies are worse. It'll be better that way; you don't need to be so avoidant of the facts anymore."

Giovanni thought of many things he could say. Abundant arguments and reasoning floated in his mind. Yet the only words he voiced were, "I won't try to stop you. Just don't say more than necessary."

"I promise," Delia assured, "besides, I don't know any real secrets anymore. The things I'll be discussing with Ash and later Ash and Misty are more related to us than Team Rocket."

Giovanni wasn't sure how to take that, "if you deem it necessary," the atmosphere felt heavy, as if the world came to a halt. 

Delia got up and petted Persian before looking back at Giovanni, "I'll let you know how it goes." It was clear she intended to take action immediately. 

Giovanni remembered something and was quick to stop her from leaving the office, "wait, the wedding."

Delia thought for a moment, remembering Daisy's wedding. She didn't want to cause unnecessary tension right before it.

"All the gym leaders are expected to be there," Giovanni pointed out.

"That would complicate things," there wouldn't be enough time for everything to settle down. Delia really didn't want to ruin the special occasion.

"I'll send Kenobi to talk to them," Giovanni decided. Kenobi was high ranked in the organization. It had been decided this term would be Rune's last. The elections were close, but Kenobi was always involved in the city's activities. As a result he easily stepped into his role as mayor candidate taking his father's place. Overall, the city received him well. They were convinced that Rune retired to take care of his health, which was in many ways close to the truth. "They should trust him and he can reassure them. That will be enough."

Delia nodded; it was the best course of action for the time being. However, she wouldn't let her determination crumble so easily. She wouldn't take the excuse to run away. "After the wedding, I still want to tell Ash the truth."

Giovanni knew that was coming. Things should have settled down sufficiently by then. He would be ready to deal with the possible and likely troublesome reactions. "Alright, just give me a warning first."

xoxox xox xoxox

The next day seemed to drag on forever at the Cerulean gym. The Waterflowers and Lando had been informed that someone would be visiting them to further discuss their adaptation to their new situation in alliance to Team Rocket. Ash was still there. Lando had left his Ackbar duties and hurried to Cerulean City. There was tension in the air as the four Waterflower sisters, Lando and Ash sat in the living room waiting. They didn't know who to expect or when exactly. They only knew someone from the mafia would pay them a visit on that day.

The pokemon were let out of their pokeballs to play and rest in the pool area. They sensed the tension and weren't in the mood to play. Most of them just sat there discussing the complex situation their trainers were in and wondering about it. Pokemon were generally more optimistic than humans.

It was the late morning when the door bell rang and the group got up at once. "I'll go," Daisy insisted. She felt it was her duty as the oldest Waterflower, to let the guest into their home. She walked to the main door, took a deep breath and opened it. She released the accumulated air in her lungs upon seeing who was at the door. "Kenobi, it's you. I like thought it was... you know," he was aware of their connections, "come in." Despite feeling relieved for a moment, the tension was quick to build up stronger. Daisy wanted to get everything over with.

"Sorry I'm a little late," Kenobi apologized as he followed Daisy back to the living room. "There was some heavy traffic on the roads today."

"It's okay, Violet will be happy to see you and I'm like glad you came too," Daisy tried to keep the stress out of her voice.

Kenobi arrived at the living room full of fidgeting people. All their eyes focused on him as he came in, then on the empty space behind him. No one else had arrived. Violet was the first to greet him with a hug. "I'm like really glad you could make it. I wonder when that person who's like supposed to be coming today will arrive."

Misty immediately caught what Violet was referring to openly. "He knows?" The word mafia was scarce in their conversation but to say 'them' and such words, was enough to communicate the message.

"Yes," Violet confessed. "Kenobi is in this too, since you're like about to get more information soon, it's okay to tell you now." She felt a bit guilty hiding that detail from her youngest sister, even if she thought it was for her own good.

"How many more surprises will I get?" Misty sounded too exhausted to be upset. Kenobi was the primary candidate to be Viridian City's mayor. Ash gave Misty's hand a soft squeeze, which she returned.

"There will be at least one more surprise," Kenobi announced, taking a seat in the living room next to Violet. "I hope this helps you relax rather than create more tension. The one who was to come to answer your questions and let you know what can and can't be done is me."

Everyone was visibly surprised. They had assumed Kenobi's involvement in the mafia was not quite high ranked enough for that. "Wait," Misty took a moment to process everything, "you're the Viridian mayor's son and the next candidate for mayor. Does that mean the mayor really supports Team Rocket?" Her eyes widened with a sea of possibilities forming, "the gym leader too?"

"What?" Ash exclaimed suddenly.

"Please don't jump to conclusions," Kenobi tried to keep the situation calm. "The Viridian gym leader is indeed our friend, but he is not aware of our connections," Kenobi felt guilty about lying, but it was necessary for Giovanni's identity to remain a secret until the tensions settled completely. "It's not impossible to have friends even if we are with the mafia. You're not forfeiting your lives. You just need to keep the business and your personal lives separate. This is a lot easier than it looks." 

Kenobi continued, "take Ackbar Inc. for example, the business functioned normally for many years. Several things were happening behind the scenes, but it wasn't a real obstacle. You can continue with your lives as if nothing has changed. Just remember not to say too much, remember what side you're on. As long as you don't cause any negative effects, everything is alright. It's not so different from before, from when you didn't even have this information."

"Pretending I don't know isn't so easy, but if it's the only safe way," Misty felt defeated.

"It will get better," Kenobi promised, "you have my word that it will."

A good portion of the day went by discussing business and proper social practices. It was as if the mafia had their own code of ethics where loyalty reigned supreme and justice had a new definition. From a certain point of view and embraced with an open mind, it didn't sound so bad. There were two sides of the coin; they would be fine as long as they remained in the good side. It felt constraining. The temptation to do things they wouldn't have done before, by lack of information or lack of provocation, was great. 

Forgetting about the nameless consequences as long as their dearest ones were safe was not an easy task for Ash. He connected with others easily; he was quick to help and quick to make friends. He wondered if he could handle it, he knew he had to. All in all, the tension did decrease after they listened to Kenobi and asked a few questions. Not all the questions came with a full answer, but Kenobi still had something reassuring to say.

xoxox xox xoxox

The Team Rocket laboratories continued with their tests and analysis of the blood sample from Akira. They arrived at several conclusions. The virus was a slow killer, unless the substance containing it, the black blood, was directly ingested. Madame's Ninetales Nien was one of the victims. Even if the poisonous blood was diluted by water, it was still potent enough to work fast. The quick deaths in the area near the stream between Pewter and Cerulean had ceased, the essence of death spilled into the stream was consumed. However, the sickness still spread, slowly being passed from one living being to another. 

What was left of the virus was much less severe. It would take time for it to become a serious problem. When passed from one living being to another, rather than being consumed or injected, the virus weakened considerably. Unfortunately it wasn't eliminated and would eventually begin to strengthen and present symptoms.

Poisona's words had been confirmed. The virus had no negative or even noticeable effects on humans. However, they could carry it, passing it to pokemon, becoming as poison to them. The scientists had to find, not only a way to cure the virus from pokemon, but also to remove it from humans. The way they reacted to it was different, thus there were many routes to explore. It was discovered that Akira's blood was black not due to the virus, but due to a strange substance that contained it, preventing it from spreading. That way, the initial infection would develop over time becoming harder to cure. No one would be prepared for it.

When Secura, alias Akira, received the virus through her mother as an unborn child, it was harmless. Aayla's body eliminated the substance, but in the fragile unborn Secura it remained. It developed over the years contained within her, unable to be contagious. Then it was finally released after the virus had developed into something deadly. She was the vessel for death to be born. No records of such experimentations existed as far as Giovanni knew. He theorized that Poisona or even Venom years ago, destroyed any remaining records. 

Secura's potential would not be awakened for many years. Venom intended to keep her by his side and train her as a valuable ally. Yet in a moment of guilt Aayla decided to lie. She insisted that she would be fine giving birth alone. A crowd of suspicious people in the hospital would not be good. She left her child in Mirta's care after faking the baby's records. The child was thought to have been stillborn and Aayla returned to her life with the gangs. She believed it was all she could do, she believed it was best that way. 

Perhaps that hidden secret was another aspect that influenced Aayla's thirst for vengeance on Venom, alongside being betrayed. Maybe that was why she was fearless with experimentation, if her daughter had to endure it, she could endure it too. Power would make everything alright. It would make her strong enough to avenge everyone she thought was lost and protect those that remained. That was what Aayla had believed.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. In Diamond 71 Pixel and Comet are playing Phantasy Star Portable 2.


	21. Part 21

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 73: Give me Destiny

In an unspecified time at an undisclosed location, a teenage boy entered a dark room followed by two pokemon. The room was shaped as a long rectangle with a tall ceiling. A thick red carpet five feet wide covered the metal floor from the entrance to the other side. Two three feet wide stripes of silver floor were visible on either side of the carpet. Its edges left and right were adorned in golden lines parallel to its length.

The boy walked down the long room. It had no windows as it was underground. A multitude of crystals hung from the ceiling producing dim light. Two waterfalls fell left and right at the end of the room. The water flowed down the walls seemingly disappearing when it hit the floor. In their center there was a throne upon three steps. The throne was surrounded by red curtains. Not a single sound could be heard, not even from the water. The footsteps were lost on the soft carpet.

Upon the throne there sat a woman. The clothes she wore were of a dark color, their details unperceivable in the darkness of the room. The glimmer of a diamond around her neck could be seen, its shape akin to a crescent moon. The woman's hair was long and golden, perhaps too golden to be a real shade of blond. Her eyes were brown, focused and piercing. Her straight hair ended in curls. She twisted one of the curls around her fingers with long crimson nails. She looked young, but she was just old enough to be the boy's mother.

To her left, two shadowy figures stood with green and purple hair. To her right there was another shadowy figure with red hair. They were very much alive, but stood motionless like statues. The boy stopped in front of the lady, his eyes determined, "mother?"

"The experiment was successful," the woman on the throne informed. The throne was plated in gold, with comfy red covers. "We have what is needed, the mission is yours." 

The red haired figure extended a hand from the shadows. The lady on the throne received the item given to her. It was a strange machine, shaped as a thick wand of metal. Its handle was a foot long with a glowing green jewel at the end. Lime green ones and zeroes floated endlessly inside the jewel's light. Tiny wires entered the jewel from the metal handle forming a faded web inside it.

The two pokemon with the boy were a female Vulpix and a male Persian. They both had thick black collars. The Vulpix looked worried, "is it alright?" As she spoke a red light appeared on her collar tracing the sound waves. Her voice came out in the human language, sweet and concerned.

The woman in the throne scoffed, "must you keep those collars on them at all times? Tell me again how you found those two oddball fur balls?" 

"They found me," there was a defensive edge to the boy's tone. He loved his pokemon, even if Vulpix was too kind for her own good at times. Persian's personality was quite different. He always encouraged his trainer to take all the opportunities that came his way, even if it meant breaking the rules. 

"The card," the regal woman spoke. The shadowy figure with green hair handed the boy something. It was what appeared to be a collectible card with a picture of a Pikachu. That particular card was shiny and durable, it was much rarer then a regular Pikachu card. "Everything will be as we discussed."

The boy nodded, "I'm ready," he insisted with determination. His brown eyes matched those of his mother. His hair was mostly brown as well, save for a line of gold in the middle, spiked up. The challenging look on his face was an often used expression for him; others included a cocky grin or dense confusion. He grinned as he spoke his parting words, "make sure not to fall in battle if he returns."

The woman ceremoniously lifted the odd scepter, its green jewel glowing. She ignored the boy's warning with a cocky grin of her own, "away you go!" She lowered the scepter and reminded, "you must blend in. Get ready and then you may leave." The boy knew she was right about that.

xoxox xox xoxox

In the present time, all over Kanto and perhaps soon the world, a dark legacy threatened to consume life little by little. The remnants of the virus introduced to Kanto by Poisona were slowly coming to light. It would be a long and arduous journey in the field of science. Many wondered if they would be able to come up with a solution on time. Even if the problem wasn't obvious yet, it was real.

Iblis' latest report gave the investigators another clue. As a result they discovered that traces of the virus had infected various storages of food shipped for human consumption. The investigation had been previously looking in the wrong place. Poisona didn't try to infect the pokemon directly; she aimed for the humans who would spread it.

It was already too late to stop the infection. The virus was still not something the public was well informed about. Humans suffered from no symptoms. The virus developed slowly within them, becoming stronger until it infected pokemon and began to weaken them progressively. It was happening so slowly that it was not yet a real epidemic, but the problem had already been released into the world.

Unaware of the situation concerning the virus, Ash, Misty and her family had their own reasons to be doubtful of the future. "I wish I could do something," Ash had insisted. He had gotten a look of determination as if he could take on the world. 

Misty had to calm him down, "let's give everything more time. Let's not do something we will regret."

A new day had started and breakfast brought a gloomy atmosphere. Lando and Kenobi had both stayed at the Cerulean gym. The previous day, things evolved into a point where the group relaxed and saw the visit as just another family gathering. There were even pokemon battles for fun. Ash came out as the ultimate victor. Misty was the only one able to put up a fight, the others didn't stand a chance. In the end, her Gyarados was knocked out by Pikachu, granting Ash victory. 

After a night of sleep, reality resurfaced. Daisy had enough of the gloomy atmosphere, "everyone cheer up!" She spoke of it as if it was the most vital requirement. "My wedding is in a few days. I don't want any long faces there. I expect to see smiles!"

The realization sunk in for Misty, she had been too preoccupied to worry about the wedding. "Oh no, Ash!"

Ash looked at Misty with confusion, "what's wrong? You look like you saw a ghost and I don't mean a pokemon."

"You have nothing to wear!" Misty urgently reminded Ash. "I was going to help you find the right tuxedo for the occasion, but we never got around to it." Her dress had been ready for a long time, but Ash kept procrastinating.

"Is that all?" Ash laughed. "I'll just go get one today. How hard can it be? All tuxedoes are exactly the same."

Ash was nearly melted alive by the glares of the Waterflower sisters. Daisy spoke in all seriousness, "no they're not."

Ash lifted his hands in a sign of surrender, "sorry, sorry, I meant no disrespect. I will choose carefully."

Daisy was not convinced. She looked at Misty pleadingly. "Don't worry," Misty assured, "I'll choose for him."

Daisy was visibly relieved, her worries replaced by a smile, "that's good to know." Ash pouted but didn't say anything. Daisy continued, "we should go shopping today."

Ash felt his blood run cold. Going shopping was in itself an unpleasant experience. Going shopping with Misty could be turned into a date, thus saving the experience from becoming torture. However, going shopping with all the Waterflowers was indeed torture. "Do we have to?" Ash pleaded in a small voice.

"Yes," Daisy cheerfully declared.

Ash summoned all his courage and patience, "alright." Surely Misty would reward him for being good and putting up with her sisters. Everything would be worth it in the end. His cell phone rang and he wondered if it was someone urgently calling him to be somewhere else. "It's Brock," he announced looking at the name displayed on the screen. He answered the call immediately putting Brock on speaker phone. "Hey Brock!"

"By the way, Ash put you on speaker phone," Misty specified. Though well intended, Ash sometimes forgot that it was not nice to put people on speakerphone without warning them.

A chorus of "hi," "hey," and "hello" mixed together as the table took a much more casual and light atmosphere. Introductions were mentioned where needed.

"Are you having a party without me?" Brock joked.

"Not at all. We just happened to be here at the same time so we improvised a little get together," Daisy lied.

"I'm in Cerulean City right now. Misty and her sisters are making me go shopping," Ash dramatized with exaggerated agony. "Want to endure with us?"

Brock laughed nervously, "I'd love to, but you know, you're way over there in Cerulean City and I'm way over here in Pewter City."

"Aw, that's too bad," Ash pouted, he didn't expect Brock to show up on such short notice, but that would have been good.

"It's going to be like an all day thing. Join in if you change your mind," Violet extended an invitation that made Ash pale. Shopping all day long? Not just until they found the proper tuxedo? Would it take that long to find one that was satisfactory? Kenobi and Lando shared Ash's expression while Misty sighed and summoned her patience.

"I'll think about it," Brock offered. The conversation took a turn towards the previous day's non-secret happenings. 

Daisy inquired if Brock had his attire for the wedding ready, he was also invited. Brock was indeed ready. "An example to be followed," Daisy commented, while looking at Ash. Ash could only place his hand behind his head and laugh sheepishly. 

They were all secretly thankful to Brock for pushing the conversation towards a more relaxed atmosphere. When they were only among those who knew of certain things, it was tempting to discuss them, even if everything had already been said. That did not help the mood. A mutual silent agreement was reached that they would try to continue living their lives as they normally would, one day at a time.

xoxox xox xoxox

A boy followed by two pokemon approached the Oak research laboratory. He glanced past the bars of the parted gates to the area beyond the brick fence. After a moment's pause he turned to his pokemon. "I know you don't like not being able to talk to me, but I can't let anyone see those collars. He patted his green backpack, "there safe here."

The Vulpix sighed, 'he'll get into more trouble without our advice,' only the Persian next to her could understand her. She considered her words again and changed them, 'then again, he might get into less trouble without your advice.'

The Persian pouted, 'what do you mean by that? I'm trying to help him; he's destined for great things.'

'Yes, I know. He comes from a mafia family but...' the Vulpix trailed into silence. 'Never mind, I feel like we've had this argument for more years than what we've lived. In the end, we always agree to disagree and put our differences aside.'

'You could always agree with me,' the Persian offered with a confident grin.

The Vulpix smiled sugary sweet, 'not happening.'

Their trainer was pouting at them. "Sure, have a conversation now that I can't understand you. I have the distinct feeling that you're talking about me." Choosing to disregard the possibility, he covered his spiky hair style with a red hat, only the brown part was visible. "Do I blend in, or do I blend in?" Without waiting for an answer he stepped on to the steps and waited. "That's odd, this escalator is broken..." He climbed the steps up to the door followed by his two pokemon. Atop the stairs in front of the door nothing happened. "Hello?" 

There was still no automatic greeting, no robotic voice saying, 'welcome guest.' No prerecorded message from the owner of the house. 

"Of course, I studied for this," the boy reminded himself. "Everything is low tech." He took a deep breath and yelled, "Professor Oak!" At the top of his lungs.

A few seconds later, Gary Oak opened the door. He blinked and stared at the boy before him. He was wearing light blue jeans, an indigo hoody and a red cap. He reminded him of Ash. "Yes?" Gary finally found his voice.

"Are you the renowned Professor Gary Oak?" The boy tried to put up his best act. "I'm here to be your employee."

"I'm not really looking for an employee," Gary calmly replied after having gotten over the familiarity of the unknown boy.

Time for plan B, "my poor pokemon..." he picked up his Vulpix. While the Persian's specialty was looking menacing, the Vulpix's specialty was looking cute. "I'm broke and homeless. My pokemon will starve to death!"

The Vulpix's brown eyes shone in sadness as if she was about to cry, "vulpix," she cooed gloomily.

"Well I guess I can't let that happen," Gary scratched the back of his head and looked away from the Vulpix feeling guilty. "What about your family?"

"I'm an orphan," the boy lied.

"I see," Gary found the entire situation to be suspicious, but it wasn't rare for pokemon trainers to try to become his apprentices. Gary would rather concentrate on his research then train an apprentice, but this boy got points for originality in his roundabout approach. Besides, he never said anything about training him and he could use some help taking care of the pokemon. If the boy asked for an apprenticeship later, he would deal with that at the time. "Come in, I'll hire you if you prove your skill in a pokemon battle. What's your name?"

The boy followed Gary inside, looking around as if he was in a museum. "I'm Va- I mean, um... Skye, my name is Skye." A low growl from the Persian prompted Skye to continue, "these are my best friends, Dia," he petted the Vulpix, "and Givan," he placed his hand on the Persian's back.

Gary attributed the verbal stumble to nervousness and excitement, though it was unexpected from someone with such a cocky look in his face. "Alright Skye," he would have to keep his guard up around that boy until he proved to be trustworthy. "We'll have a pokemon battle, one on one. If you're going to work here, you'll have to win."

Skye looked confident, "I will win," he stated with absolute certainty.

"We'll see about that," Gary had no intentions of making things easy. Gary and Skye stepped outside, sufficiently far from the structure so that it would not be damaged if the battle became intense. Gary took a pokeball out of his white lab coat pocket, "go Blastoise!"

The confident grin on Skye's face never faded, "Givan, I choose you!" Givan stepped forward with eagerness. He showed his sharp claws hissing menacingly. He was larger than an average Persian and definitely more threatening. His toned muscles tensed beneath his smooth fur and his tail was upright as he prepared to attack. 

"Your Persian is-" Gary's observation was cut short when Givan lunged for Blastoise with his sharp claws outstretched, aiming for the throat. "Blastoise!" The large water pokemon quickly retreated into his shell. 

Givan landed on his shell slashing at the opening where Blastoise's head was hiding. "Vulpix!" Dia stood at the sidelines alongside Skye. She sounded more as if she was scolding Givan rather than cheering for him.

"Rapid spin!" Alerted by Gary's command, Givan jumped off Blastoise as he began to spin. He dodged the spinning shell again as the Blastoise relentlessly attacked. 

Blastoise increased his speed as Givan dashed to the other side of the field. Givan jumped, at the same time Blastoise came to a halt. He had to avoid leaving the designated battle area and colliding with Gary, the turn was too sharp to make. Givan was already glowing surrounded by sparks when he landed on Blastoise. The brightness turned blinding as Givan released a powerful thunderbolt. When the light faded, Blastoise was unconscious.

"It can't be!" Gary was shocked. "Blastoise return, thanks for trying." The researcher looked at the Persian with curiosity. "His strength is obvious just by looking at him. But for him to fight so accurately without commands. What kind of training regimen do you have for your pokemon?"

"They do whatever they want," Skye began to reply, but was quick to change it. "What I mean is I trained them very well so it's possible for them to do what they want. They want to win!" Dia was saying something, but Skye couldn't really understand her.

"I would like to study Givan," Gary harmlessly extended his hand to the Persian in a friendly gesture. Givan hissed baring his claws, which caused Gary to pull his hand back. "He's strong, but not very friendly."

"Givan doesn't let anyone pet him," Skye confessed, "I can give him a friendly pat on the back, but that's it." He did so, congratulating his pokemon on winning. "I've always thought that Givan and Dia were special. There's something about them. I didn't even catch them, they came to me and stay of their own free will."

"Now I really want to study them," Gary looked at the pokemon with curiosity. Givan still looked fierce; there was an intimidating aura around him. Dia was all the opposite, she looked sweet, nice and harmless. "Are you friendlier than Givan?" Gary gently petted Dia who smiled in response. Givan's glare intensified and Gary thought it wise not to pet Dia too much. It seemed Givan was protective of her, "his mate?"

"I guess so," Skye replied, "they do get cuddly from time to time when they think I'm not looking." Givan hissed while Dia giggled, "alright, alright, don't get all temperamental."

"As promised, I'll hire you, but working here won't be easy. You'll have a lot of chores to keep up with," Gary warned.

Skye nodded, he would probably be doing things that were done by machines where he came from. It was all part of the mission; he would endure it and fulfill his purpose. He had stopped at the Pallet House on the way to see Professor Oak. Delia wasn't there. She was probably in the safety of Team Rocket, where no one could steal her away. When she returned to Pallet Town, she would be more exposed to a kidnap attempt.

xoxox xox xoxox

Daisy, Lando, Violet, Kenobi, Misty, Ash and Pikachu went from one store to another trying to find all the last minute things they supposedly needed for the wedding. Things that were not real necessities, but they decided they wanted. Lily had opted to stay at the gym all day, claiming she was tired. In truth she was feeling lonely in a crowd. The pain of her relatively recent heartbreak had resurfaced. 

She flipped through the channels on the living room TV, looking for something to watch. A sitcom about robotic pokemon who ran a pizza parlor and were secretly superheroes was about to end. A news bulletin came on during the space between shows. Lily wasn't really paying attention to it. They were talking about Tempest and Bollux's trial. The news made no mention about Solo, who had escaped due to some carelessness of the police. The police's reputation had been damaged enough. They didn't need any more incompetence coming to light. 

To keep quiet about Solo would make it harder to catch him, since no one who wanted to contribute a clue could do so. Yet the price to pay for possible clues contributed by the general public was too high. They would have to remain ignorant, believing the captives of the law to be the only culprits. Solo would remain anonymous. The police would search for him in secret.

Lily changed the channel as her cell phone rang. She put down the remote control next to her on the couch after lowering the TV's volume. Two men with big muscles and spiky hair fought each other on the screen in a flurry of special effects. "Hello?" Lily didn't recognize the number.

"Lily, it's me," the male voice was familiar and she recognized it right away. 

"Caedus!" Lily growled in an acid tone. "You called me to say you like couldn't be with me anymore, then you disappear and like never called again. I tried to find you, but it was like the very earth swallowed you. Now you suddenly call like nothing's happened?" 

When he broke up with her, he hung up so fast that he didn't even give her time to say anything. Afterwards he blocked her number and disappeared. He had gotten a new phone since then, a lot had happened. "I'm sorry; I was only trying to protect you."

"From what?" Lily had quite a few things to say to Caedus and none of them were nice.

"From Tempest, they had a grudge against me. They were looking for me. I couldn't get you involved," Caedus sounded tragic. "They're behind bars now so I can finally tell you."

"Do you expect me to believe that?" The tale sounded too convenient and exaggerated to be true. Albeit with all the surprises that had been popping up, Lily wondered if it was really true.

"I just wanted you to know," Caedus insisted solemnly. "I don't expect you to forgive me. In fact, you have the right to hate me. I just want you to understand the truth. I didn't want to get you involved, I had no choice. Please, let me explain in person. I'm right in front of the gym."

Lily was feeling angry and hurt, but she decided to at least listen to what Caedus had to say. She hung up on him without a word and paced around uncertain before finally opening the door. Caedus stood there looking apologetic with a dozen roses in one hand and a wrapped gift box in the other. "Come in, I'll hear you out, but that's all." Lily stood aside indicating for him to enter, then closed the door when he did. She headed back to the living room with Caedus following. 

They sat down on the couch and Lily clicked the TV off. Caedus insisted that she accepted his gifts, "please, take this as an apology, even if I know it's not enough to say I'm sorry."

Wordlessly Lily took the gifts, setting them in a pile on her lap. Caedus was insisting with his eyes that she opened the box, he kept looking at it. "Start explaining," Lily set the roses aside and fingered the wrapping paper on the box. It had pictures of pink and blue bubbles.

Satisfied that Lily was slowly opening her gift, Caedus spoke, "I suppose the best way to describe it is that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time," his words came out slowly and solemnly.

Lily pulled the shiny wrapping paper off the gift to find a box of chocolates. Admittedly, she really needed some sugar in her system after receiving such an unexpected visit. She opened the box and looked at Caedus with a neutral expression, "go on," she urged, before putting a chocolate in her mouth.

"I was walking down the street minding my own business. Then I heard someone yell in a dark alley near by," Caedus spoke slowly and sadly. "I didn't think about it properly before rushing to see what it was. Someone was being attacked. It was a girl just barely old enough to be a pokemon trainer. I couldn't abandon the poor kid," he paused looking at Lily; his gray eyes were full of sadness. "I managed to save her and took her to the Pokemon Center. The girl said she would stay there and report the incident to the police. Nurse Joy said she would take care of her." 

"That's what started it all," Caedus continued. "The girl was the daughter of someone important. They really needed to kidnap her. I messed up their plans and apparently that was more significant to them that I imagined. Lily, they were hunting me down. If they saw us together, they would have gone after you too. I was only trying to protect you because I love you."

Lily listened to Caedus' story. She felt tired, very sleepy. She leaned back on the couch and rested her eyes. His voice was so soothing. She didn't want to fall asleep, that would be so rude. She couldn't help it, she couldn't hold on to her consciousness. Her awareness slipped away.

He ran his fingers through his bright yellow hair. "You're so gullible," he grinned evilly. "Well, we'd best be on our way," Caedus, alias Solo, picked up the unconscious Lily and headed out of the gym.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 74: Give me Eagerness

Brock got off the bus and headed towards the Cerulean gym. His friends were supposed to be out shopping all day, but surely they would be back by then. It was already well into the evening. He thought he should meet them after all, he wouldn't get over his sadness for being unable to get a date if he spent all his time at Rock On. Besides, with the news of Tempest having been apprehended he was feeling better about leaving the breeding center. He had heard the detailed story about how they were captured from Ash. 

Brock saw something unusual as he approached the gym. There was a man with yellow hair carrying Lily outside. He put her in the passenger seat of a blue car that had a broken window on the driver's side. He rushed over as he called, "what happened to Lily?" The man looked at Brock for a split second, before rushing to drive away. "Come back here!" Brock couldn't allow the apparent kidnapper to get away. "Go Steelix!" He jumped on the pokemon's back, "follow that car!" With a loud roar, the large pokemon began to chase the car as fast as he could.

Not too far from the Cerulean gym, Ash, Misty, her sisters and their dates, were at a fancy store. The store focused on men's formal attire. Ash came out of the change room wearing a tuxedo. As far as he could tell it was the same as the many others he tried on. Besides, that was the first store they visited early in the day. He had tried on that very same tuxedo before.

A collective gasp followed by fan girlish squeals escaped the Waterflower sisters. Their voices mixed into one with phrases such as, "you look great," "so handsome," "absolutely amazing," and such compliments.

Ash adjusted his tuxedo and grinned. His expression changed when he realized that the Waterflowers were rushing over to Pikachu, who was wearing a tuxedo top. Ash pouted and cleared his throat, "how do I look?"

Several seconds later, after some understanding looks from Lando and Kenobi, the Waterflowers finally stopped fussing over Pikachu. "You look very handsome," Misty complimented.

Daisy nodded, "I think this is the right one,"

"Yes, you should definitely wear that one," Violet agreed.

"I think this was the first one I tried on this morning," Ash reminded.

"We needed a point of comparison," Daisy calmly replied as if the day long ordeal had been nothing. "Oh, your bow-tie isn't on right. Misty, you'll keep an eye on him, won't you?"

Ash fiddled with the bow-tie, he could find nothing wrong with it. "Let me," Misty offered, fixing some unperceivable fault in the bow-tie. Daisy and Violet nodded their approval. Ash, nor Lando, nor Kenobi, noticed anything different about the bow-tie. 

At that moment, everyone was facing towards Ash. Ash was facing in the opposite direction towards the glass windows of the shop. He saw a car drive by wildly, avoiding traffic. Brock rushed after it in pursuit riding on Steelix. The noise caught everyone's attention, but by the time they turned around, they were only on time to see a police car zoom by. "That was Brock!" Ash exclaimed. "He was chasing some car riding on Steelix and the police was chasing them."

"I thought Brock was in Pewter City," Misty mused. The possibility of Brock rushing through the street chasing a car sounded very unusual.

"You don't have to like make up such silly stories," Daisy laughed, "we're like finished shopping anyway."

"Yeah," Violet agreed, "someone like ran a red light or something, I'm sure that's all."

"I'm serious!" Ash insisted. The approaching noise was heard again. "Listen, they're coming back around!" The same blue car from before drove up the street again with a police car after it. Brock and Steelix were no where to be found. Ash rubbed his eyes in confusion. "I saw them!" He insisted.

Misty gently patted his back, "it's okay, you're just tired."

Ash thought about it for a moment. What he claimed to see was indeed unlikely. "I guess you're right. My imagination must have played a trick on me."

Ash changed back into his normal clothes and purchased his and Pikachu's tuxedos. The group exited the store to the sound of Ash's stomach growling in hunger. They got in Lando's limousine and were on their way to get something to eat.

xoxox xox xoxox

Caedus, known in the illegal world as Solo, drove up the street trying to lose the police. He cursed his luck; he had almost made a clean get away if not for that guy with the Steelix. Misty didn't know who he was, but Caedus had seen Misty in pictures Lily had shown him of her family. He knew she was one of the trainers that ruined things for Tempest and wanted revenge. He remembered just why it was best to work alone, getting involved with Tempest brought him nothing but trouble.

Suddenly, Steelix dashed out of another smaller road into the main one. They had taken a shortcut to head off the kidnapper. Caedus tried to go around Steelix, yanking the steering wheel to the right. It was too late so he stomped on the breaks. The tires screeched and pealed, leaving black lines imprinted on the road. A loud crash echoed as the car collided with the large pokemon. The car was a mess, but Steelix stood strong with nothing but minor scratches.

The airbag on the driver's seat didn't activate and Caedus was thrown forward against the windshield. Lily was trapped between the passenger seat and the airbag. The police car came to a screeching halt, with another track of burnt tires edged into the road. Brock jumped off Steelix and rushed to Lily's side. He threw the door open and pushed the airbag aside to get her out before she suffocated. "Lily! Lily! Answer me!"

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Lando's limousine was moving quite slowly. The driver's voice came from the intercom, "it seems there's been an accident up ahead. We might be stuck in traffic for a while. I apologize for the inconvenience. I can't see exactly what happened from here, but it looks like it involved a Steelix."

Ash jumped in his seat, "I knew it! I knew it! I told you I saw Brock riding on Steelix! I have to go see what happened." Ash was quick to hop out of the limo and dash to the side of the road. He hurried up the street on the sidewalk.

"Wait for me!" Misty followed suit, rushing after Ash.

"Shall we?" Kenobi inquired.

Violet decided to go with the flow, "we might as well go too."

"That's right, let's be adventurous," Daisy followed as well.

"We'll be back later," Lando said to the driver, before rushing out after the group.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash was the first to arrive at the site of the accident with Pikachu on his shoulders. He was followed by Misty. They found Brock with Lily in his arms, crying like a baby. "Lily, you have to hold on! This is all my fault," he blamed the accident for her unconscious state and thus he blamed himself. The fact that she was already unconscious when Caedus put her in the car eluded him in the rush of the moment.

"Lily!" Misty called out, her voice drowned out by the sound of the two approaching ambulances. The rest of the group arrived soon after. 

Caedus was taken to an ambulance; he was badly injured but alive. The police network was informed about him, though only the Viridian public knew about his escape. The Jenny of Cerulean City immediately recognized the wanted man. 

Lily was placed in the other ambulance. She wasn't injured beyond a few scratches and bruises. Because Caedus was trying to make a turn when he crashed, the driver's side received most of the damage. Lily was unconscious and that was what worried the paramedics. Even if the airbag had apparently worked, they didn't discard the possibility that she might have hit her head. 

It was decided that only her sisters would ride in the ambulance with her, it would be too crowded if everyone did. The rest of the group returned to Lando's limousine and followed the ambulance to the Cerulean hospital. The entire way, Brock was a wreck. It took the combined efforts of Ash, Lando and Kenobi to calm him down.

While the group waited for the doctor's examinations and testing to finalize at the Cerulean Hospital, Jenny came by. Caedus had been safely locked up and she needed to file some reports. Brock received the most questions. He finished his replies just on time for when a nurse informed them that they could see Lily. Jenny followed after the crowd to hear Lily's side of the story.

"Don't worry, she's going to be fine," a doctor confirmed in Lily's room as the group of worried expressions entered. "She was just given a fast working sleeping chemical, it's nothing particularly harmful. Lily will be free to leave as soon as all the test results are in, it's just a precaution." Among looks of relief, the doctor left the crowded room.

Jenny wasted no time in stepping forward, "I know this is too soon," she apologized. "Could you tell me what happened?"

Lily was sitting up on the hospital bed. She was still light headed, but felt a little more awake when she wasn't laying down. "Caedus came back when I was at the gym," she began; the name was familiar to Daisy and Violet. Misty had heard it before, though she was away traveling with Ash often and wasn't well informed about who he was. She had never met him as Lily's boyfriend. Ash and Misty only recognized the man taken away in the ambulance from their battle with Tempest.

"Your ex?" Violet had arrived a few minutes after Ash and Misty, along with the others. Caedus was already in the ambulance and out of sight by then.

"Yes," Lily nodded sadly, "he said he broke up with me because Tempest was like after him and he didn't want to get me into trouble. He apologized and like told me about that, since Tempest has been arrested. He said he got on their bad side because he like saved a girl they were trying to kidnap. I think he was lying. He gave me roses and chocolates. When I ate some of the chocolate I felt really tired. I was like falling asleep and I couldn't help it. That's all I remember."

"I see," Jenny took in the information. She would fill up the report herself. There was no need to burden these people any longer. "Caedus Calrissian is a wanted man, though many people are unaware of that. He'll be going to jail as soon as he's out of the hospital. I'd like to speak to you again tomorrow when you're feeling more awake. If you don't mind, I'll drop by the Cerulean gym."

Lily nodded slowly, "yes," she could barely find her voice after learning the truth about Caedus.

"Well then, I'll be on my way, may you recover soon," Jenny referred more so to the shock then to any physical injuries. The officer left the room where everyone offered their words of encouragement to Lily.

Caedus Calrissian, alias Solo, turned to a life of crime after his father's cargo company was taken over by the Antilles family, under the guidance of Team Rocket. It all began when Caedus was a small child. His father was forced to sign an unfavorable contract. From that point on, the takeover slowly commenced until Calrissian Cargo became Antilles Oceanus. The Calrissian family was left in ruin.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Viridian City gym, Delia was flipping through a catalogue looking at dresses. "Explain to me again why I'm doing this?" She sighed.

"Because all the gym leaders are socially required to go to Daisy's wedding," Giovanni explained as he typed something into his computer. They were in his secondary office above ground. He made himself available for gym battles. He had defeated a few trainers that day. "Since everyone thinks we're dating and you're going to be there too, then it's reasonable we go together."

"Yes, I already said I would go," Delia replied, "what I don't understand is why I can't wear what I intended to wear. I already have a dress. How do you know it's not proper if you haven't even seen it?"

"You told me," Giovanni reminded. 

Delia raised an eyebrow, "when did I say that?"

"When I gave you some jewelry to wear," Giovanni recalled, "you said it was too much to go with your dress."

"So instead of just wearing less jewelry I'm supposed to get a new dress?" Delia found the approach to be rather inconvenient. "Forgive me your majesty. This peasant has forgotten that she needs to look like a queen if she's going to be the king's date in a formal event."

Giovanni's reply to Delia's sarcasm was a simple and slightly amused, "you're forgiven." 

Throwing the fancy designer's catalogue at him was quite tempting for Delia, but she refrained from doing so. She continued looking at the dresses.

Giovanni interrupted with an annoyed, "what is the meaning of this?"

At first Delia assumed he was annoyed at some report or something he was reading on the computer. She couldn't see the screen from her angle sitting across from his desk. 

"Delia!" Giovanni insisted, turning the screen around so she could see it.

Delia found herself looking at a picture of a sleeping Giovanni with red ink all over his face. The design was reminiscent of a Persian. "So you were spying on my cell phone." Thankfully she had a backup copy of that picture in her computer at home, and several printed copies hidden in the bottom of some drawers.

Giovanni had been too busy to keep up with such details. Delia couldn't be making suspicious calls if she was with him most of the time and they had an agreement. It took him too long to realize that she had taken such a picture. He quickly sent the wireless signal to delete it from Delia's Rocket cell phone. "If you have any more copies of that," he looked threatening.

Delia was amused, she smiled sweetly, "just the one on my cell phone," she grinned mischievously, purposely hinting that she was lying.

Giovanni leaned back in his chair, and massaged his temples, "you're such a handful to deal with sometimes."

"So are you," she kept the same sweet smile. Giovanni returned to his work and for a moment only the sound of his typing was heard in the office. Then Delia suddenly asked, "do you want to hear a story?"

"A story?" He questioned. "Is this completely random?"

"Not at all," she paused. She was looking at elegant dresses to go to a wedding. The thought of a wedding reminded her that she never had one, though she almost became officially engaged. Those memories made her think of when she left Team Rocket to raise Ash peacefully. That reminded her of when Ash was born. Maybe the links were too long and many to be easily followed, "actually yes, let's say it is random. I realized I never told you about when Ash was born."

"Was there something unusual about it?" Giovanni wondered with curiosity. Why else would Delia offer to tell the story? If it was just a normal childbirth, he didn't think there was much to tell. Go to the hospital, give birth, wait a few days, go home, end of story.

"Not really," Delia mused, "well it was a little early, but it turned out fine. I just thought you might want to hear the story," she clearly wanted to tell it.

Giovanni didn't understand Delia's sudden eagerness to share that tale. He decided to listen. She would tell the story anyway, he was sure. "Alright, tell me the story."

He was discreetly reading something from the screen, but Delia decided not to mention it. Instead she began her story.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash had been born just a few days after Gary. He came early, thus Delia was a little unprepared. Mrs. Oak had given birth in the Viridian City hospital. Pallet Town didn't have its own big hospital; the closest one was at Viridian. There was a small clinic in town to take care of check ups and minor injuries. Gary's mother and Delia had been going there for check ups. 

Mrs. Oak was very talkative. She would go on for hours about how glad she was they would give birth at close dates. She was convinced that the children would become best friends. She even hoped that they would end up dating when they were older if they were a boy and a girl. If the children were of the same gender then they would become sibling-like best friends. Mrs. Oak never would have guessed that the boys would develop such a rivalry, though they did become friends later on.

When Mrs. Oak went to give birth at Viridian City, she took the local Pallet Town doctor with her. The doctor had been keeping up with her check ups all that time and she wanted a familiar doctor with her. She also wanted to have the resources of a large hospital available. Professor Oak had gone to Viridian City with his son and daughter-in-law. For the next few days, Delia would be without her closest people in Pallet Town. 

She assured them she would be fine. They would return before her due date. Then later she would journey to Cerulean City with Professor Oak. She didn't want to give birth in Viridian, it felt too close to Team Rocket. She wasn't really hidden in Pallet Town, but she wouldn't purposely do anything that might make her presence stand out. She knew Giovanni had many connections in Viridian City. Pewter City was also too close.

It was a sunny morning in Pallet Town. Delia was beginning the preparations to serve breakfast at the Pallet House. People sometimes told her that she should take a break since she was so close to her due date, but she refused. She didn't want anyone thinking they had to feel sorry for her. After a wave of unusually strong morning sickness, Delia went to the kitchen and started to get things ready. She was running a little late that morning.

She dropped the bag of coffee beans she was holding, when the baby made an unusually strong movement, "what's gotten into you today, Ash?" She patted her large belly as is trying to soothe her child. The pain ceased and she carefully picked up the bag of beans from the floor, keeping her back straight. She lifted herself upright with her legs, thankful that the coffee beans had not spilled out of the bag.

She left the bag on the counter and reached for the little radio she kept in the kitchen. She was in the mood for some soothing music. As she tried to find a good station, the sudden sharp ache came again. Her face contracted in pain and her hands went to her stomach. "Ow, Ash, no..." 

Her breathing turned labored as she carefully reached for a chair and sat down. She took long deep breaths. It had to be a false alarm, she couldn't be giving birth. It was not her due date yet. She looked at the calendar in the kitchen wall. It was May twenty-two. Her baby was supposed to be born at the start of June. The Oak family was still in Viridian City. Little Gary was only a few days old. More nausea came and she pushed herself to her feet, rushing to the bathroom. Minutes later her water broke. Another sharp pain came; there was no denying the truth.

"Delia!" A voice called from outside. It was Mrs. Alderaan, she often went to drink coffee at the Pallet House in the mornings. "Are you there?"

Delia took a deep breath and willed her child to stay still. She reached for the bathroom sink and splashed cold water in her face. She composed herself and went over to the kitchen door that led to the area with tables and chairs outside. "Good morning Mrs. Alderaan, I'm running a little late this morning."

"Oh, don't worry dear; I just came to say hi, you really should take a break." Mrs. Alderaan began her endless story about her Bellsprout, which she carried in her arms. "When Belle is exhausted, she gets asthma."

Did pokemon even get asthma? Delia smiled sweetly and interrupted, "I heard that the local doctor left the keys to the clinic with someone in case anyone needed some first aid supplies. Just out of curiosity, who was it?"

"It was me. At least I can count on having first aid supplies on hand if Belle ever got hurt. Oh but I will make sure she doesn't," Mrs. Alderaan continued. "Sometimes I call Professor Oak to look at Belle when she gets sick. My poor sweet Belle often chokes on air and gets the most violent hiccup attacks. Sometimes I call Dr. Quigon too. A human doctor should at least know the basics of pokemon medicine. It's just so unfortunate that they're both away at the same time. What if something happened to Belle? Don't you think it's just nerve wrecking to be without the doctor and the professor in town at the same time?"

Delia felt another wave of pain wash over her. She kept her legs firm and straight. If she bent her knees even a little, she was sure she would crumble to the floor. She clenched her teeth in a forced smile. "Yes, terribly nerve wrecking. Can I borrow the keys?"

"Of course, let me get them for you," Mrs. Alderaan didn't move, "speaking of keys, Belle was playing with the keys earlier, it was so cute!"

"Thank you so much, I'll come get the keys, just as soon as I get back from running a little errand," Delia walked past Mrs. Alderaan. Walking very stiff and pained, she headed up the street. If she let people take pity on her, they might treat Ash differently. She would prove she didn't need any pity.

"Such impatience!" Mrs. Alderaan raised one arm dramatically, palm up. In her other arm the Bellsprout seemed to be more aware of the situation than her trainer.

Delia hurried up the street to Professor Oak's place. She didn't bother with the stairs, instead calling at the top of her lungs, "Marty!"

She waited a few seconds and the young man came out, breathing heavily from all the running. He spotted Delia at the base of the stairs and hurried to her. "Is there an emergency?" Professor Oak had left one of his Pallet Town neighbors taking care of things while he was away. He only really needed to feed the pokemon.

Delia smiled sweetly; it felt relieving to be able to scream as loud as she could at least once. "There's no emergency, I just want to borrow Chansey. I feel like having the company of a Chansey, that's all."

"Oh..." Marty assumed it was all due to some kind of odd mood swing. "Okay, I'll go find Chansey for you, I'll be right back." The seconds ticked away painfully until Marty returned and gave Delia a pokeball, "here you go, is there something else you need? Is everything okay?"

Delia forced herself to keep smiling, "everything is fine, thanks for asking. See you later," she went on her way, pained and stiff down the street. 

After making it to Mrs. Alderaan's house, Delia found the old lady in the front yard playing with Belle. Thankfully she had remembered to get the keys and promptly handed them over. "Isn't it a lovely day?" Mrs. Alderaan continued with her usual chatter. "That's why I brought Belle out to play in the yard, I'm sure she enjoys nice days like this."

"Oh yes, lovely day, thanks for the keys, see you later!" Delia rushed away as quickly as she could.

Mrs. Alderaan watched her leave. "Such impatience!" She threw her hands in the air. "I bet that patience will not be that baby's strong point." Standing on the ground beside her, Belle continued being more aware of the situation than her trainer.

Delia let herself into the clinic and hurried with difficulty to lay in bed. "Go Chansey!" She released the pokemon from her pokeball. The Chansey immediately realized what was going on. Her caring nature made her want to help the human. "Chansey, I'll be counting on you!"

Delia wasn't sure how much time passed, but it wasn't more than a few hours. The birth happened relatively quickly. Chansey was at a loss of what to do with something that wasn't an egg. "Chansey!"

"It's okay," Delia gasped for air, "I' know what to do." She did her best to guide the pokemon through the process of human birth. Delia had read up on it to feel more prepared. Chansey was nervous, but did as she was told and everything worked out in the end.

xoxox xox xoxox

By the time Delia finished her story Giovanni had stopped reading from the computer screen and was staring at her. "You were always good at blurring the line between brave and crazy," he finally spoke, impressed that Delia was able to handle the birth practically on her own.

"That's funny," Delia smiled as she remembered, "Professor Oak said something like that when he came back to town the next day and found out what happened. You should have seen his face. The Chansey that helped me was his pokemon. He allowed Dr. Quigon to keep her in the clinic. She's a Blissey now. She's still helping out at the Pallet Town clinic." 

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 75: Give me Parties

"Relax; I'm not going to do anything crazy. You don't need to keep an eye on me twenty-four seven." Delia reassured Giovanni before he even had the chance to protest on her decision. She had just informed him that she was going back to Pallet Town. She missed her home and Mimey must be getting lonely without her. "I already tried on the new dress and it fits, I'm all set to go to the wedding. I just want to be in Pallet Town for a while before going to Cerulean City."

"I wasn't going to stop you," Giovanni half complained, though in truth he was going to remind her about a few things. 

Delia had, as promised, been visiting Binks. The visits went more or less the same way as the first. On the bright side, the dark circles under Binks' eyes were less prominent and she had talked him into eating a decent amount of food. She didn't expect him to be anything but thin; he had always been that way. At least he could return to being relatively normally thin, rather than in the bones.

"Be mindful of Binks' health," Delia recited. It was not how Giovanni would have phrased it, but it encompassed the basic idea. "Secrets should remain secret," she continued, "no big family revelations will be made until after the wedding," she paused in thought, "am I forgetting something?"

"That just about covers it," Giovanni voiced, at least she was aware of those points, even if she seemed much more relaxed about it than in the past. He knew she wouldn't keep up trying to avoid him as she did for a short time.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're assuming whatever you want?" Delia mused; she knew that confident look all too well. 

"You're imagining things. Besides, aren't I always plotting something?" There was no use in denying it.

"That is very true," Delia admitted. "Anyway, I'm concerned about the illness that's spreading. It still hasn't been declared an epidemic but it's worrisome. I trust you're not withholding any information?"

"No cure has been found, but the researchers claim they're making progress," Giovanni truthfully replied, 'they better be,' he mentally added.

"Binks said that too. Let's hope they have a breakthrough soon," Delia felt she had nothing more to do but to hope. Yet she wished she could do more. She had been reacting to things rather than taking action beforehand for the most part in her life. She wanted to change that.

"Now that I think about it, there is one thing you're forgetting." Giovanni stopped Delia as she was about to exit his gym office. 

"Not that I know of," Delia couldn't think of anything that was pending for her to do.

"Transportation," Giovanni reminded. "You need a reliable form of transportation in case I need to call you here for some reason. He gave her a key with a leaf shaped keychain that looked like the Earth badge. "It's for the orange car, in front of the gym."

"I don't really need-" Delia was interrupted.

"Just take it," Giovanni insisted, "if you don't want it, you can give it to Ash or something."

Didn't he just say it was in case she needed to be there quickly? Delia decided not to read too deeply into it. Instead she pocketed the keys and went on her way, "thank you."

xoxox xox xoxox

The trip from Viridian City to Pallet Town went by quickly in the car. It was late when Delia decided to return, but that didn't stop her. She parked the orange car in front of her little house. The evening had already given away to the night. She entered the house quietly. 

Mimey had heard the car in the stillness of the atmosphere. He looked out the window and saw Delia get out of the car. "Mime!" Mimey ran to hug her.

"Aw, did you miss me, Mimey?" Delia gently petted his blue hair. "Next time, you can come with me."

"Mime?" Mimey glanced at the living room, "mime?" He gazed towards the kitchen, "mime?" He looked towards the stairs.

"Don't worry about the house chores. The house will be fine by itself for a few days," she let Cloyster and Kingler out of their pokeballs. "How about we all have a snack then go to bed early? A good night's rest is important," she smiled. All the pokemon agreed.

xoxox xox xoxox

Down the street, Gary was ready to turn in for the night. His new employee was helpful but odd. It seemed he sometimes forgot how the most basic items worked and expected everything to be automatic. Then some kind of hidden realization overtook Skye and he knew what should have been obvious from the start. Other than being an oddball there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him so far. Maybe he was just a really big fan of science fiction. Gary yawned and went to bed.

Meanwhile, in one of the guest rooms, the boy who claimed to be called Skye was still awake. "Maybe I should check the house one last time just to make sure Delia is still with Team Rocket."

Dia and Givan had their collars on, which allowed them to speak the human language. "Do you think she'll come back this late?" Dia's black collar traced the sound waves in red lines. 

"We never know," Skye decided it was best to be on the safe side. If anything happened, he would at least have the proper information for a second attempt at his mission. However, he might not get that chance. One try was already a lot to ask for. "I'll take a quick look." Skye headed out of the guest room. His two pokemon followed him towards the front door. They exited silently and made their way down the stairs. From behind the locked gates, they looked towards the Pallet House. "There's a car, she must be back!"

It would look suspicious to ask Gary to unlock the gate, so Skye and his pokemon jumped over it. They hurried towards Delia's house stopping in front of the orange car. "It's pretty cool even if it's an antique. It must be new for everyone here," Skye observed. He looked towards the calm and quiet house. "I don't think anything has happened. We'll have to keep an eye on her just in case. At least until the danger passes. I wonder how long it will be? We don't even know what to expect. It was all so long ago."

"All of this could bring consequences," Dia's doubts plagued her again. "At the same time given what came as a result of that event, it can also bring improvements. It all feels so..."

"Confusing?" Skye offered.

"Convenient?" Givan suggested.

"Familiar," Dia finished unexpectedly. "Why don't I guard her for tonight?" She looked at Givan, "I'm trusting you not to be a bad influence on Van while I'm gone."

Givan grinned mischievously, "I always give him the best ideas, don't I, Vandel?"

Vandel, alias Skye, grinned in agreement, "most of the time."

"Stay out of trouble you too," Dia insisted. After Vandel took her collar off, she climbed into the house through the window.

"We should go back before anyone gets suspicious," Givan reminded. Vandel agreed and they hurried back to their assigned guest room at the Oak lab.

Dia quietly made her way to the source of light in the kitchen. The other pokemon, Mr. Mime, Cloyster and Kingler, noticed her, alerting Delia. "Hello there," Delia petted the Vulpix, "how did you get in?" She was too friendly to be wild. Maybe she belonged to someone in town. Most likely, she lived with the Oaks. Delia would take her there tomorrow and ask. For the time being, the Vulpix could stay in the house. "Do you want to join us?"

"Vulpix," Dia nodded. Delia gave her some food. Dia sniffed the cookies then began to eat them. She and Givan preferred human food for the most part. The chocolate chip cookies were welcomed.

xoxox xox xoxox

Morning came in the peaceful town of Pallet. Ash was still away, he had been talked into helping Lando with his bachelor party. As a result, he and Brock journeyed to Vermillion City with Lando and Kenobi, while the Waterflowers stayed at Cerulean City. Jenny did visit the gym, but her questions were quick and to the point. Lily was unaware of Caedus' illegal activities as Solo. Either way, they had enough accusations waiting for him, including kidnapping and car theft.

Delia woke up, got ready for the day and began the breakfast preparations. It had been a few days since the Pallet House was open. A quick group email to the town the previous night brought back her customers. The town woke up to the pleasant news in their inboxes that the Pallet House was open for business. Those who didn't see the message that morning, heard from their neighbors. It was a small town where anything resembling news was a rarity that traveled quickly when it came.

Among the chatter in the tables at the Pallet House, Delia filled her customers' cups with coffee. Gary was at one of the tables reading the news paper. "Good morning Gary. I think one of the pokemon from the research lab snuck into my house last night." She looked at the Vulpix by her feet. "She's a real sweetie."

"Good morning," Gary was able to take his time with breakfast that day. He started preparing the pokemon's food and setting it out for them with his new employee, then left Skye to finish the job. "Dia?" Gary recognized the Vulpix. "She belongs to Skye; I just hired him to work at the lab. I have to admit it feels good having more time to do research with some extra help taking care of the pokemon. It's been pretty busy ever since Tracey returned to the Orange Islands a couple of years ago. I told Skye to come have some breakfast over here when he finished getting the pokemon's breakfast ready." Gary looked towards the road, "there he comes."

A few minutes later, Skye arrived looking exhausted. He could run, jump and fight all day long, but chores tired him out quickly. He had plenty of physical endurance for some things and almost none for others. Perhaps it was the tediousness of a task that should been automatic that got to him. "All the pokemon have been fed," he collapsed into a chair at Gary's table, glancing at Delia with curiosity.

"Good," Gary commended, "this is Delia," he introduced, unaware of the fact that Skye, whose real name was Vandel, already knew who she was. "She's the best cook in town."

Skye woke up from his tired daze, "nice to meet you, I'm Skye," he gave her a grin that reminded her of both Giovanni and Ash. The boy's face seemed to be a blend of both their faces.

"It's nice to meet you too," Delia smiled sweetly, not letting her surprise at the resemblance show. Additionally Skye dressed in a similar way to Ash. "This Vulpix is yours?"

"Yes," Skye petted Dia, "Dia likes to explore sometimes. She must have gotten curious about the town. She didn't bother you, right?"

"Of course not, she's such a sweetie, it was nice to have her visit," Delia petted Dia as well. "You're welcome to come visit me whenever you like. Who's this handsome gentleman here?" She reached out to pet Givan.

"Be careful with that one," Gary warned, "he's not very... friendly?" He watched in awe as Givan allowed Delia to pet him, even purring in response.

"He seems friendly enough to me." The Persian reminded Delia of Giovanni.

"Is Givan one of those pokemon who are only nice to women?" Gary had come across a few pokemon who only allowed humans of the opposite gender to pet them.

Even Skye was surprised, "I don't understand, he usually doesn't let anyone touch him like that, even if it is a woman. I guess he likes you." Skye observed Givan; he didn't seem to be pretending to be nice for the sake of their mission involving Delia. It looked as if he honestly didn't mind if she petted him.

Gary got an idea, "maybe you can help me study him," he suggested. Givan gave a low threatening growl, "or maybe not." His cell phone rang, making Gary wonder who was calling him so early. He took a look at the little screen and saw Ash's name. "It's Ash," he announced before answering, "good morning Ash, you're actually up early today."

Ash yawned, still sleepy, "morning, I've been really busy," he stated what his yawn had made obvious. "Do you feel like coming to a party in Vermilion City? Say yes!" Ash insisted quickly explaining, "we need to invite one hundred guests, because Lando decided that it wouldn't be a real bachelor party without that many guests. Lando, Kenobi and I don't know that many people put together," or rather not that many that could be invited and expected to make it on time. "Say yes! There will be lots of food, drinks and pokemon battles, say yes!"

Gary laughed, "yes, but you'll have to give me the specific directions and time."

"No problem, I'll write everything in a text message so you can look at it if you forget," Ash cheerfully offered. "Sorry to hang up so quickly, I need to keep searching for guests, see you at the party!"

Gary looked amused, "he didn't even give me time to say goodbye." He closed and pocketed his cell phone. "There will be a bachelor party in Vermilion City with food and pokemon battles."

Skye looked up from the menu he was examining, "are we going?"

"I am going, you are staying here and taking care of the pokemon," Gary replied, much to Skye's annoyance. "Grandpa can't take care of all the pokemon by himself anymore. Besides, you're too young to drink."

Skye scowled, then remembered his mission, "fine." He couldn't leave Delia out of his sight unless she was with Team Rocket. No one ever said that the tragedy had to occur when she was in Pallet Town, but it was only logical. She was safe with Team Rocket, he assumed.

xoxox xox xoxox

The day went by uneventfully, giving way to a night of parties. Charla was at Cerulean City, she had stayed there since she was a girl, thus she would attend Daisy's party. She looked at the glass bubble on her tail. It would protect her flame from the water that would be abundant in the pool party. The large gym pool had just been cleaned and needed to be refilled with water. Misty left the pool automatically filling itself with water, the mechanism would shut down the flow of water automatically when the level was proper. 

Next to the pool there was a large supply of paint. It was temporary body paint that they would play with later. Daisy thought it would be original. She had definitely ordered far too much paint. Misty shut the doors to the gym arena so that the guests wouldn't wander in before the area was ready. She went to the aquarium area to talk to the guests.

A little later, music was playing and Daisy's party was going well. Other than playing Rattata maze with the pizza delivery boy, nothing too out of the ordinary had happened. The game consisted of blindfolding a person and having them make their way out of a maze of people without bumping into them. Their voices would be the guide. It was a childish playground game that was much more amusing than usual when the person declared to be the Rattata was a terrified handsome young man who was never actually asked if he wanted to play. Aside from being blindfolded, his hands were tied behind his back. It was hilarious watching him stumble around. It got better when his also handsome co-worker came asking about why his friend never returned to the pizza parlor. He became another victim of their game.

"Misty, did you fill up the pool?" Daisy inquired, she wanted to move the party there since all the guests had already arrived.

"Yes, I filled it up a while ago," Misty replied.

The festivities were interrupted by the arrival of officer Jenny. It was Violet who opened the door. "Hi!" She cheerfully greeted. "Have you come to join the party?" The local nurse Joy had attended. They had conveniently forgotten to invite Jenny, but decided to act natural if she showed up.

Jenny looked very displeased, "I'm here because of the complaints from the neighbors," she seriously informed.

"I didn't think the music was that loud," Violet mused, "alright, we'll turn it down."

"It's not the music; it's the massive amount of water coming out of your window. It's flooding the street and painting it!" Jenny dramatized. 

"What?" Violet blinked in confusion.

"Come have a look," Jenny urged.

Outside, Violet noticed that there was indeed a very unusual amount of water out in the street and it was indeed unusually colored. A small rainbow stream made its way down the sidewalk, filtering in under people's doors. The water fell to the lower ground of the road, making it difficult for cars to drive by when their tires caught the sticky paint. They went around the gym and found that there was a large amount of water coming out of the windows that led to the arena area. "Oh no," Violet hurried back inside."

Misty and Daisy stood in front of the door leading to the arena area where the big pool was. "Why is there water coming out from under the door?" Daisy asked with worry.

"I don't know, the pool should have stop filling itself with water when it reached the right amount," Misty observed Daisy's worried expression.

"Since you have like been away traveling you didn't know," Daisy realized. "The mechanism is like broken," both sisters shared wide eyed expressions.

Lily walked by, "why are you two like standing there? Everyone is ready to like have fun in the pool."

Violet rushed inside, her voice mixing with Daisy's and Misty's as they yelled, "don't open it!" It was too late, Lily opened the door and a flood of water came rushing out.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, in Vermilion City, Lando was quite happy with the amount of guests in his party. Even if many were pokemon, there had to be more than a hundred guests in his mansion. "How wonderful," he cheered, "I am quite pleased to have entrusted the guest list to you, Ash. Now, how do we properly have a bachelor party? Such celebrations are not familiar to me," he admitted. "Shall we play classical music? Oh, but who would we dance with? Maybe we should do something else."

Kenobi paused for a moment in thought, "well, we could threaten some small company somewhere and take over their business. That would be a celebration," he suggested with a carefree smile.

Brock took Kenobi's suggestion as a joke, "Can we even call it a party if there are no girls?"

Ash rolled his eyes, the rich, the mafia and the obsessed didn't know how to have fun. "You have it all wrong. This is a party not a ball or a business meeting. We're supposed to listen to super loud rock music while we eat, drink and have pokemon battles until we pass out from exhaustion!" Lando and Kenobi looked at each other, then back at Ash. They nodded in agreement, admittedly, his suggestion did sound fun. "Since I'm starving, why don't we eat first and then battle?"

"Splendid!" Lando exclaimed, signaling for the butler to come over. The female staff had the day off. "I would like rock music to play, the loudest you can find!"

"Right away sir," the butler hurried to accomplish his unusual mission.

"I shall make sure all the guests are happily eating and drinking to their hearts' content, starting with you two!" Lando blissfully declared.

"Then I'll go eat and drink to my heart's content," Ash agreed with a wide grin.

"I'll gladly join in too," Kenobi added.

"Me three!" Brock cheered.

The music began to play and the party progressed as everyone ate and drank. Many tables with food and drinks were all over the grand room. It looked like a room where a royal ball would take place. It had a high ceiling with detailed paintings of various flying pokemon. The crystals in the glass chandeliers shimmered brightly, vibrating with the strong sound waves of the hidden speakers. The marble floors were perfectly polished like mirrors. The walls were made of glass, save for the columns that supported the structure every few feet.

Charizard was offered a cup with strong liquor, which he curiously drank. The substance had a strong burning taste, it was sour, but he liked the warm feeling it gave him. There seemed to be similar liquids of different colors. He tried each one, finding the warmth within him increasing with each drink. The flame on his tail grew, with sparks of fire jumping from it. The sparks reached the various tables as Charizard went from one to another, trying the contents of all the bottles he saw.

It didn't take long for someone to realize that there was a fire and it was spreading. Many flaming desserts were ordered and Lando had decided to deactivate the fire security system. He had a rather embarrassing mishap with it in the past that ended up with drenched angry guests and smoking desserts that should have been flaming. Before anyone could think to turn the security system back on, Charizard reached his limit. 

Charizard felt that something was about to explode in his stomach. He looked up to the ceiling; he couldn't hold it in anymore. He let out a loud roar with a massive breath of fire. The powerful column of fire reached the ceiling burning a hole through it. The fire continued spreading in the ceiling as sparks fell and most of the guests fled. The security system was turned back on and the sprinklers were finally activated. The indoor rain was very unpleasant for Charizard. He was lightheaded, not in his full senses, but still strong, he could not be called back into his pokeball. Displeased, Charizard thrashed about wildly, spreading the flames.

Ash and Gary called for their Blastoise to calm Charizard. The two large water pokemon only gave their trainers sheepish smiles as they leaned on each other like drunken buddies. In the middle of the chaos, Bulbasaur swung happily from the chandelier on his vine whip. He didn't seem to notice the danger around him as he laughed merrily. Brock was holding on to Bulbasaur, enjoying the ride.

"You let the pokemon get drunk!" Ash and Gary pointed accusing fingers at each other.

"Turn the water off, it's making him mad!" Kenobi yelled. A few more seconds passed until the sprinklers were turned off. "Calm the Charizard and get him out, then turn the water back on to put out the rest of the fire." Somehow in the battle of Charizard versus the sprinklers, Charizard had been winning.

Kenobi's advice was followed. Dodging flames, Ash approached Charizard and tried to calm him down. Charizard couldn't help it; he had an overload of fire. "It's okay, just let that fire out in a safe place." Ash climbed on his back as Charizard flew out the hole in the ceiling. He breathed fire into the sky, like fireworks, until he calmed down.

When Ash and Charizard landed back inside the mansion, the fire had already been put out and the water from the sprinklers ceased. Only Lando, Kenobi, Ash, Gary, Brock, the mansion staff and their pokemon remained. The other guests were gone.

"Leave it to Ash and his pokemon to heat up the party," Gary teased. His own pokemon weren't exactly sober, but they were nowhere near as destructive. 

"You said it!" Lando cheered as he put his arms around Ash and Gary. "You Pallet Town people really know how to party!" He sounded as if he had enjoyed every second of it.

"Is he drunk?" Ash inquired, referring to Lando.

"I'm not certain," Kenobi admitted.

"Let's hope so," Gary added, at least that way the insanity would be gone by morning.

Brock fell from the chandelier, with Bulbasaur landing on top of him. "They're drunk," Ash stated the obvious as Pikachu attempted to climb on his shoulder and kept falling back clumsily, giving him little electric shocks.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. In Diamond 73, the robotic pokemon with the pizza parlor are a parody of the Samurai Pizza Cats and the other show was Dragon Ball Z. Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. Calrissian Cargo and Antilles Oceanus' story was explained in Diamond 58. The event of Caedus' father signing the contract happened in Diamond 19. The birth story is not exactly realistic, but neither are magical encapsulated monsters.


	22. Part 22

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 76: Give me Expectations

On the day after the parties, the day before the wedding, Ash, Lando and Kenobi returned to Cerulean City. Gary and Brock, who were also invited to the wedding, went there as well. The men found the interior of the gym looking messy and wet. Puddles were abundant in the street. Oddly enough, the street was also painted in bright colors. The body paints were indeed easy to wash off skin, but stuck to any other material.

The group had lunch together at a nice cafe near the gym. "Are you perchance remodeling the gym?" Lando curiously asked during their conversation.

The Waterflower sisters looked at each other and Daisy replied with a smile and a simple, "yes." It's not like they had a choice after what happened.

"I thought so," Lando smiled back. "I also noticed they painted the street in a rather original design, how very festive. Speaking of remodeling, I'm remodeling the party room. It's nothing too major; it will be ready for the reception tomorrow and I'm sure you'll like it." 

"I can't wait to see it!" Daisy happily exclaimed. Without any direct references to the disastrous parties, their conversation continued casual and carefree. The wedding would be held in Cerulean City, at Daisy's request. The reception would be held at Lando's mansion in Vermilion City, also by Daisy's choice. The locations were far from each other which posed an inconvenience. However, the problem was quickly minimized by making sure enough aerial transportation was ready.

xoxox xox xoxox

That afternoon, the group returned to the Cerulean gym where Brock found a quiet corner in a guest room to mope. It didn't take long for Ash and Misty to stray from the group and investigate. "What's wrong Brock?" Ash inquired, though he had a good guess about what was going on. Brock must have been feeling lonely due to his lack of date.

Brock looked away from the wall with a desperate expression. "I asked Lily if she would be my date for Daisy's wedding party and she said..."

"She said no?" Misty asked, "don't take it so badly. Maybe I can talk to her for you."

Brock shook his head, "actually, she said yes, but only because I helped her before."

"Congratulations!" Ash happily exclaimed, "you have a date, that's great!"

"Why aren't you happy?" Misty guessed Brock would be jumping with joy if anyone agreed to be his date.

"Because it's only a pity date," Brock pouted, "Lily might feel it's her obligation to stand next to me and talk to me and dance with me," Brock dramatized, his voice rising in volume and pitch as he went along. He frowned deeply, "she might not enjoy the wedding and it'll all be my fault."

"Aw, don't think that way," Misty tried to console him, her expression supportive. "You're a fun guy, I'm sure Lily will enjoy the date."

"Yeah, you two will have lots of fun together," Ash grinned. "Maybe Lily will even agree to go out with you again."

Brock seemed to grow sadder, "I don't think she'll go out with me again. Relationships never work out for me, I'm cursed. It's going to be heartbreaking even if she does have a good time. I'll miss her more when she rejects my second date invitation."

"Think positive!" Ash urged, though given Brock's history that would be a challenge.

"Listen Brock, it's about time you learned to be smarter with women," Misty spoke in a serious tone, her eyes piercing. "When you see a girl you like, don't just tell her, you have to get to know her first. I know you're good at heart, but anyone who doesn't know you that well will think you're a superficial jerk. You also give up too easily. Take it slow and gently, pursue the same interest loyally, but without stalking."

Brock nodded like a bobble head toy. He was too shocked for words. He stared at Misty, processing her advice. Then his mind was filled with pictures of his happy life with Lily. "I understand!" Brock loudly exclaimed. "I won't give up until I win Lily's heart. Somehow I will accomplish this without getting slapped or getting a restraining order!" He ran off to put his plan into action immediately.

"Wait, Brock that's not what I-" Misty didn't have time to explain herself. Brock had already run off, from his quiet guest room corner. His footsteps faded away down the stairs. Misty's advice was spoken in general terms. She didn't mean for Brock to apply it specifically to her sister. "Lily is never going to forgive me for this." 

"Who knows, they might end up dating for real," Ash thought of the possibility, but it seemed difficult. Brock really did have the worse luck with women.

xoxox xox xoxox

Far away from Cerulean City, strong winds blew as a helicopter landed in Pallet Town. The only thing identifying the black helicopter was a green leaf, shaped like the Earth badge. That particular helicopter lacked the red R most of Giovanni's flying vehicles had. It was an extremely rare event, far rarer than a car driving by, and that was already quite rare. It didn't take long before some of the inhabitants of the town gathered around the helicopter. They witnessed as the Viridian City gym leader exited the flying machine when the wind died down. He was followed by his loyal Persian, who was always by his side.

The people of the small town knew of the apparent relationship between Delia and the gym leader. Rumors traveled fast in the little town. As he walked, people stepped aside as if making way for royalty. They commented among themselves about the gym leader's 'dashing' arrival and came up with all sorts of romantic stories. Giovanni found it annoying that they didn't have the decency to wait until he was out of earshot to start gossiping.

Delia rushed out of her house to meet Giovanni. She was accompanied by her three pokemon, Cloyster, Kingler and Mimey. Additionally, she was followed by two other pokemon, a Vulpix and a Persian. The last two were Skye's pokemon Dia and Givan. "You could have been a little more discrete," Delia whispered to Giovanni. She expected him to pick her up, but not in such an attention grabbing way.

"Does it bother you that much that they talk?" Giovanni whispered back. He caught bits and pieces of the murmurs of the Pallet Town residents. They were muttering something about whispering sweet nothings. The public was composed of mostly idiots; it was something Giovanni had figured out a long time ago.

"Let's discuss this inside," Delia urged. She was feeling a little too scrutinized. Though the looks she was getting were much nicer, she was reminded of when she returned to Pallet Town expecting Ash. The looks she got back then were not nice. Now people seemed to be happy that she was with such an important public figure. They treated the situation as a matter of pride.

Giovanni, Delia and the pokemon went inside her house. Persian gave Givan a threatening glare. Givan was bigger than him, but he didn't care. He liked being the only Persian around. Givan had a look of superiority in his face. His expression was very familiar. Then something seemed to click. 'You're...' Persian glared, 'impossible! Who are you really?'

Givan remained unfazed, 'sometimes I wonder about that myself.' He began to leave and Delia noticed.

"Are you going back, Givan?" She called after him and he nodded in response. There was no need to guard Delia when she was with Giovanni. "Alright, I'll see you when I return, you too Dia."

"Vulpix!" Dia gave her goodbye and followed Givan to the door. Givan stood on his back paws, taking the doorknob between his front paws and twisting it. He exited the house along with Dia and closed the door.

Giovanni watched the scene with interest, "did you teach him that?"

"No, Givan and Dia already knew how to get around when I met them recently," Delia explained. She went to pet Persian, who was giving her an attention demanding look. "They're Skye's pokemon, he's Gary's new employee. He'll be taking care of the pokemon while Gary is away."

"Mr. Mime, mime mime," Mimey was curious about the man who was apparently dating his trainer. He introduced himself and extended his hand.

Though a handshake was a common trick, Giovanni decided to humor the pokemon and more so Delia. He returned the greeting shaking hands with Mimey. "Giovanni, Viridian City gym leader."

"Mime!" Mimey sounded happy.

Delia laughed, "he's impressed," she smiled and elaborated upon the introduction, "Mimey is my little helper."

"The one that cooks, cleans and uses a vacuum cleaner to wake people?" Giovanni remembered Ash mentioning it during his last visit to Pallet Town. 

"The very same!" Delia smiled proudly along with Mimey. "I promised to take him along with everyone the next time I went away. Should we get going before the neighbors decide to coincidentally drop by?"

"Yes, it's best if we leave right away," Giovanni agreed. Getting away from the office when he was waiting for important scientific reports was not easy. Either way, he really needed to attend the wedding the next day. As for his little trip to Pallet Town, the publicity was good. His image as the good gym leader was restored quickly. Romantic gossip could make miracles and disasters for public figures.

"Okay, is everyone ready?" Mimey, Cloyster and Kingler agreed cheerfully. Delia had been making sure to give her pokemon a lot of attention so that she wouldn't lose their trust ever again. "Into your pokeballs you go, I'll let you out when we get there," Delia recalled all three pokemon into their pokeballs. Mimey wasn't used to being in a pokeball, but he didn't resist the red beam that absorbed him.

Delia, Giovanni and Persian returned to the helicopter. The pilot was instructed to take off with Cerulean City as the destination.

xoxox xox xoxox

Dia and Givan had returned to the Oak research lab. Vandel, alias Skye, was laying on the grass a few steps outside of the house. "Chores are far more tiring than battles," he complained when Dia looked at him curiously. 

'Should we tell him that Giovanni was here?' Givan grinned mischievously. The expression didn't go unnoticed by his trainer.

'Van might be upset that he didn't get the chance to see Giovanni in person,' Dia warned. She could clearly picture Vandel complaining about missing a chance to obtain the autograph of the great Giovanni.

Vandel's tired eyes focused on the two pokemon. "I keep getting the feeling that you're talking about me right in front of me," he mused aloud. "I thought not having your collars would bother you more than me, but it's the other way around." He closed his eyes, "I'm taking a nap right here..."

"Skye?" Professor Oak's voice came from the door. 

Vandel got mentally ready to assume his alias, though Skye's following statement required no acting, "I'm so tired!"

"You're still young, where has your energy gone?" Professor Oak got an idea and smiled knowingly. "If you're that tired you can take the rest of the day off. That's too bad though, I was hoping you could help me study a rare pokemon. Oh well, I guess I'll wait until Gary comes back and ask him to help me."

"Rare pokemon!" Skye jumped to his feet. "Where is it? Where is it?" He was suddenly full of energy.

"It's right over here in the lab," Professor Oak walked towards the laboratory area of the residence.

Skye followed him impatiently asking questions, "what kind of pokemon is it? What makes it so rare? Is it really powerful?"

The short walk to the laboratory area felt eternal for Skye. Finally, Professor Oak picked up a pokeball he had set aside on his desk and released the pokemon it contained. What came out was a young Bulbasaur and he was all green.

Skye closely observed the Bulbasaur, waiting for him to do something amazing. The green Bulbasaur backed away, intimidated. That human had a very piercing stare, plus there was a very fierce looking Persian next to him. The Vulpix looked friendly, but that wasn't enough to make up for the young human and his Persian companion. "do something!" Skye exclaimed.

The green Bulbasaur let out a loud and frightened, "bulba!" He ran to hide behind the elderly professor. He was familiar with that particular human at least. "Saur!" The little green Bulbasaur wrapped his vine whip around Professor Oak's leg, firmly attaching himself to him.

"Be careful little one, you almost made me trip," Professor Oak grabbed on to the edge of the desk for balance. "There's nothing to be afraid of, no one will hurt you." He tried in vain to calm the little Bulbasaur.

Skye was still staring at the young pokemon intensely. He didn't want to miss anything whenever that so called rare pokemon did something amazing. "When is he going to do something?" He urged impatiently.

"It's his color," Professor Oak pointed out what he thought would be easy to notice. Skye sure sounded excited about seeing a rare pokemon, so the professor had assumed he knew that much about them. "This color is quite unusual for a Bulbasaur. I'm sure you've seen light blue Bulbasaur before."

Skye blinked, "his color?" Pokemon could be digitalized into data and kept in suspended animation where he came from. They could additionally be recolored. That was an illegal practice that could result in corrupt data. The risk of the pokemon remaining in a permanent coma after they were returned to a physical state was too great. Not even an expert could guarantee a successful modification. Of course, that didn't stop people from doing it. The pokemon that survived were generally weak as an aftereffect of the procedure. They were not ideal for battle, but they were not sold to battle anyway. They were living decorations. The technology to do such things didn't exist in the era of his mission. That Bulbasaur was naturally colored differently from most of his kind. "That is rare," Skye finally acknowledged, "is he very powerful?"

"He's still a baby," Professor Oak pointed out, "a frightened baby," he emphasized. He knew Skye wasn't scaring the little pokemon on purpose, but he was still scaring him. The same went for Givan, except he seemed amused by the little pokemon's fright. 

Dia pouted at Givan's grin. 'Don't be mean to him,' her words came out as a stream of "vulpix" for the humans. She walked over to the little green Bulbasaur and sweetly talked him into calming down. 

Vulpix was a fire type, but she was very gentle, so Bulbasaur wasn't afraid of her. He finally let go of Professor Oak's leg. "How interesting, it seems Dia has calmed him down." It was ironic due to their types. "I think we should begin the study there. Let's allow Bulbasaur to interact with other pokemon and observe them."

"You mean we're not going to battle?" Skye pouted in disappointment, "I want to battle!" He stubbornly insisted. What he really did was sent his pokemon into battle and watch them win. Givan had already shown his strength to Gary. Dia was generally a pacifist, but she was not a pokemon anyone would want to make angry.

The little green Bulbasaur once again looked frightened at the prospect of having to battle. The big Persian looked extremely scary and he didn't want to battle him. The Vulpix had shown him kindness, but she was a fire type. Even if she was merciful, the idea of battling her was also scary. Any type of battle frightened the little Bulbasaur. 

"I don't think Bulbasaur is ready to battle," Professor Oak tried to make Skye understand.

Skye looked at the small green Bulbasaur with disinterest, "he's not very brave. He's probably not very strong either. Don't you have some sort of super rare pokemon around here I can battle with?"

Professor Oak looked thoughtful; there was something about that boy that was different. He glanced at the Persian who was examining his expression. Their eyes met and a cold chill went down Samuel's spine. That Persian did indeed have a very intimidating presence. The professor brought his mind to focus on the situation with Skye and Bulbasaur. 

"To be honest, Gary has already studied this pokemon," the elderly professor revealed. "I just thought it would be good for you to study him as well. This little one is ready to be given to someone to train him. I've made up my mind; I'm giving you this Bulbasaur, take good care of him."

Skye was taken by surprise; he looked back and forth between Professor Oak and the small green Bulbasaur. He didn't really want the Bulbasaur. Plus he couldn't take any pokemon other than the ones he came with when he returned home. His refusal was clear in his face, but Professor Oak was giving him an insistent look.

'Just take him,' Givan finally spoke. Skye could only hear him say "per persian," but his expression spoke loud enough. 

'I thought you didn't like children,' Dia reminded.

'I don't,' Givan confirmed, much to Bulbasaur's worry. 'I just think it's a good idea for Vandel to train a pokemon from the start. We've been doing all the battling for him. He needs to learn how to train pokemon instead of relying on us all the time. He needs to become strong on his own.'

Dia thought it made sense, 'you're right, this will be good for Van. Even if we'll have to part ways, it will be a good experience.'

The tiny Bulbasaur whimpered, 'what's going to happen to me?'

'Don't worry, we'll take care of you,' Dia assured with a sweet smile. 'Van, I mean, Skye has to return home eventually and he won't be able to take you along. It's okay; we'll make the best of our time together and help you become brave and strong. Givan will help too, he's really not scary once you get used to being around him,' Dia casted a glance at Givan who grinned showing his fangs. He wasn't really trying to look any less intimidating.

Skye and Professor Oak found themselves watching the conversation that they didn't understand. Oak was determined to invite Meowth over sometime and have him talk to Skye's pokemon. That might not be so simple in Givan's case. Meowth was an open book when it came to his life outside of Team Rocket. Though he didn't specify why, he had stated time and again that he hated Persian. Perhaps the professor could get Dia alone for a moment while Givan was visiting Delia and ask Meowth to speak with the friendly Vulpix.

"Alright, I'll take him," Skye finally voiced his agreement. Later, he would have to ask Givan why he looked so encouraging. Dia he could understand, but this was an unexpected acceptance coming from Givan. It was only temporary, but Skye didn't mention that. There was no need to disclose details that would encourage an inquiry about explanations he couldn't share.

xoxox xox xoxox

The trip from Pallet Town to Viridian City went relatively fast, but for Delia and Giovanni it didn't feel that way. Delia was asking questions that Giovanni didn't feel like answering. Yet the information didn't seem too bad if painted in the right light. She had done her research about the news and wondered what happened to those who were not in the custody of the police. "Bollux was arrested and I also heard they captured Caedus," it was the name revealed by the news. She connected the events with what Ash told her about in a recent phone call. "Which leaves..." 

She didn't need to finish, Giovanni knew what kind of information Delia was looking for. "Yes, Poisona is still in Rocket custody. She's alive and as well as a prisoner could be. We might hand her to the police soon. It doesn't seem like she has much else to confess."

"I do wonder about your interrogation techniques," Delia frowned in disapproval at the possibilities. "I'll be keeping an eye on the news. I know she's a terrible person, but she better be in one piece. I wouldn't be surprised if she's a little bruised, but there are still limits," she stopped, she wasn't sure just where to set her limits. She had slipped back into a tolerant mind frame without fully realizing it. It gave her a headache to go in mental circles and she didn't like the satisfied smirk Giovanni gave her remark. 

Delia decided to change the subject a little. Her next question went down a similar road as the last, concerning a different person. "What about Akira? According to the news she escaped from the police on the same day she was detained. It was when... all those terrible things happened. They haven't really said anything beyond that." The sounds of the gunshots and pain were still clear in her mind.

Giovanni decided to mostly tell the truth about Akira. Technically, Team Rocket was keeping her alive, even if it was only for research purposes. Once that was done, she could spend the rest of her life in jail. She would take the blame for her own crimes and a few other unlawful acts that needed a culprit. "Comet found Akira and returned her to Team Rocket," there was no need to specify when those events took place. "She was in bad shape, almost dead, and it was not Team Rocket's doing. She's in a coma, the doctors are doing what they can to keep her alive," while at the same time studying her, but Giovanni kept that last fact to himself. "After she's been interrogated," in truth the interrogation wasn't important, the scientific studies were. "She'll be given to the police."

"I take it her list of crimes will be longer than it should be," Delia sighed. "It was just like with Tempest, they took the blame for everything. Team Rocket was doing a lot of unlawful things back then. It wasn't as pretty as I painted it," admitting it made Delia feel as if her precious past had been suddenly stained. "I should realize that and admit it," a part of her wanted to reject that truth and hold on to her precious memories as perfect pictures. She wanted to do that with at least the very distant memories, the ones of her beginning with Giovanni. The memories of a time before Team Rocket started to turn into what it currently was.

"You've matured," it was a slightly odd thing to say to someone who was well into adulthood. Yet somehow it appeared to fit. "Even so, it seems you still can't decide what you want."

"I know what I want," Delia affirmed, "I also know it's not possible to have it exactly as I want it. I'm trying to find the middle ground, trying to stretch the limits of tolerance. I'm trying to be happy with what I can have. I thought I had already accomplished that," until she decided to seek him out and he complicated things. She looked almost annoyed, "you have a grand ability to complicate things."

"So do you," he returned, almost amused by her expression.

The helicopter landed on the roof of a nice hotel in Cerulean City. After the blades slowed down and the wind subsided, Delia, Giovanni and Persian got out. "I should head to the Cerulean gym," Delia stated unsure.

"It's getting late, everyone must be busy and the gym is probably crowded. You'll be able to see everyone tomorrow anyway. Besides, I already had your things delivered here," Giovanni didn't expect Delia to oppose an argument. She didn't sound like she was protesting; it was more like she wanted to get away. It was all the more reason to keep her there. "Aren't you hungry? Dinner is waiting for us. There's no need to run away."

The thought of running away hit a sour note for Delia. She had been doing so much of that she felt sick with herself. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm just pretending to be nicer than I am. Sometimes I think I'm terribly selfish."

"You worry too much," Giovanni nonchalantly voiced. The elevator took them from the roof one floor down. Giovanni was already in possession of the keycard that unlocked the door to the fanciest suite. "We have a celebration to attend tomorrow. Even I know I should leave stress for later," running such a large organization as Team Rocket could indeed be very stressful.

At least he knew she couldn't simply make her worries go away. "Alright, I'll forget my worries and enjoy the celebrations. As of right now, until the morning of the day after tomorrow, I'll try to relax." She felt selfish in doing so, but honestly tried to let go of her worries for the time being.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 77: Give me Attraction

Night time fell upon Kanto and soon most of its inhabitants got ready to go to sleep. In Pallet Town, Professor Oak observed Skye's pokemon. Given and Dia were sitting on the couch and Givan was flipping through the TV's channels. 'This couch is as hard as an Onix,' Givan commented as he tried to find something worth watching.

'I know, it's so uncomfortable, but there's no where else to sit,' Dia agreed. Sitting on the floor was starting to look tempting. Since they didn't have their collars on, Professor Oak had no idea what they were saying.

None the less, the professor continued watching the pair with fascination. 'If he keeps staring at us...' Givan glared threateningly towards the elderly professor. Oak visibly shuddered at the intense look Givan was directing towards him. Yet he was too interested in his study to leave.

'Calm down, he means no harm,' Dia spoke sweetly, 'you should take it as a compliment,' she encouraged. Dia patted the empty space on the couch beside her with her paw and smiled. Professor Oak returned the expression and took the invitation to sit down.   
'I don't know how much patience I can spare,' Givan growled. He stopped changing the channels at a movie that looked promising. 'I think I found something to watch.'

The flat big screen TV showed a man in a black tuxedo running through some kind of militaristic fortress. The fortress was an odd mix of medieval and modern. Its gray stone walls had a few metal pipes propounding from the structure in several places. The floor was also made of dark gray stones. The ceiling mostly matched, save for some areas where dim unprotected light bulbs hung from wires. There were also air vents with bars covering them and spinning propeller-like structures.

The man in the tuxedo had black hair which was neatly brushed back with the shine of hair gel. All but one strand of hair was in place. The single strand fell on the side of his determined face. His bright blue eyes and prominent chin were his most noticeable features. He turned a corner quickly, his breaths heavy. He pressed his back against the wall looking left and right. He took the gun from his belt and clutched it in his hand, "one bullet, I only have one bullet left," he dramatically emphasized.

He heaved a deep breath, "one bullet was all it took to steal your life away. One bullet will be enough to avenge you," the emotion in his voice was almost tangible. "This last bullet is for him, for the one who took your life." The man returned the gun to his belt.

Givan frowned, 'are you done with the cheesy lines?' He growled at the protagonist, though he knew the man on TV couldn't hear him. 'Go fight something already!'

'Shh, be quiet, I'm trying to hear what he's saying,' Dia shushed, 'maybe he wants to avenge his deceased lover.'

'Whoever he wants to avenge, he better quit the cliche and get with the action fast or I'm changing the channel,' Givan pouted.

'Don't you dare, it's just getting good!' Dia took the remote control away from Givan just in case.

The man on the TV checked his fancy watch. "It's eleven fifty," he stated dramatically. "If I don't stop him by midnight, he'll launch the missiles," the actor's expression changed to exaggerated agony, "then the entire city will be doomed!"

'Oh sure, stand there talking, announcing your presence. If I was in charge of that fortress, he would have been caught ages ago,' Givan was becoming quite impatient to see some action.

'I bet those ten minutes are going to last more than ten minutes,' Dia commented. That was how it happened in many movies; the most important few minutes took much longer to show than the length of time within the story.

"I'm coming for you!" The so called sneaky spy ran down the dark corridor. He jumped out of the darkness at the L shaped turn at the end of the corridor. His fist collided with an armored guard's face, who was conveniently without a helmet. The thug fell against the wall, instantly knocked out.

A multitude of footsteps were heard. The spy looked at the air vent above his head. Using the knocked out enemy's shoulder to gain height, he jumped and grabbed the bars covering the vent. He retrieved a small but incredibly sharp knife from his pocket and cut through the metal bars one by one. He then threw a rope with two metal balls, one at each end, at the spinning fan. He had that in his pockets too, though they didn't bulge out with the multitude of things he had in them. The rope somehow coiled itself around the fan's blades, stopping its motion. The man climbed up to the air vent and disappeared in the darkness of the small tunnel. 

Somehow, the spy miraculously had enough time to perform his complex escape before the multitude of enemy soldiers arrived at his location. The minions didn't realize that the vent was open. The cut off bars that should be on the floor were not present on the scene.

The movie was interrupted by the loud voice of Skye, coming from a different room. "I don't know what words to say..."

'Then don't say any!' Givan growled loudly.

"Oh my..." Professor Oak got up and went to investigate what the commotion was.

'If the old man doesn't make Vandel shut up in ten seconds, I'll go shut him up myself. Even that guy's cheesy lines are better than this!' Vandel had his front paws over his ears, holding them down flat.

Professor Oak arrived at the site of the agonizing noise. It was one of the guest rooms where Belle slept. The loud mouth Bellsprout didn't like staying in her pokeball. "Flowers sing a silent lullaby!" Skye bellowed completely off key. It was his lullaby that should have been silent.

"That's quite enough Skye," Professor Oak gently placed his hand on the boy's shoulder to get his attention. 

"Gary told me to sing to Belle if she couldn't sleep," Skye explained. He looked at the Bellsprout who was covering her yellow head with her two green leaves. She closed her eyes and stayed perfectly still. "It looks like she fell asleep. Well, that's the last of my chores for today. I really need to get some sleep."

"Ah yes, you should get some rest," Professor Oak agreed. Skye was right up there in the list of most terrifying singers along with Ash and Gary. At least they meant well. Even so, it would be disastrous if they decided to form a musical trio to sing the pokemon to sleep. That would probably give them nightmares.

xoxox xox xoxox

In Cerulean City, Giovanni was feeling glad to have the largest suite at Razzo Albergo permanently reserved for himself. He did own the hotel after all. The suite took up all of the top floor and the one below it with grand private stairs connecting them. It was equipped with everything from two spacious bedrooms, to a fancy living room, a big refrigerator, a mini-bar, a hot tub, a sauna, an office and various luxuries. With Delia insisting on letting all her and his pokemon out at once, it would have been quite crowded without all the extra space.

Gold was the predominant color of that particular suite with red being its secondary color. The walls seemed to glow as if plated in gold, but at the same time they were not bright enough to annoy. The carpet was a deep crimson, while the furniture was exquisitely sculptured and covered in real gold. A 3D TV mirror took all of one wall. The sound system's speakers were well hidden and could not be seen, but they could be heard all around.

Large bulletproof glass windows with golden frames lined another of the living room area's walls. With the red and gold curtains parted, they showed an impressive view of Cerulean City from the height of fifty floors. The first ten floors were occupied by large casinos. The casinos were constantly full of wealthy gamblers that left less wealthy than they arrived, but they enjoyed their time there none the less. 

The casinos included all the classic games plus others that were not so common in gambling, including throwing darts and pool. Some of the tables took requests from the customers on what to play. They were willing to play anything as long as bets were made. Everything from poker to crazy eights and even several board games were available to gamble with. The next ten floors featured various entertainment areas such as live shows and movie theatres. Special premiers were often held there.

The pokemon were greatly enjoying their time at the hotel. Giovanni's pokemon had mostly been fighting or in their pokeballs. The experience was also a novelty for Mimey, who was fascinated. Persian seemed to be the only one who was familiar with such accommodations.

While Delia and the pokemon enjoyed the luxuries, Giovanni was focused on his laptop. He checked his messages, read a few updates and made sure things were still running smoothly. Everything was as well as it could be and there were no new reports.

As the night progressed, the pokemon fell asleep one by one. Delia was just about ready to go to bed too. She assumed Giovanni would be working late to make up for the time he would be spending at the wedding and reception the following day. She showered, changed and went to bed. He would be sleeping there as well, since the pokemon occupied the other room. The bed was certainly big enough to allow for plenty of space between the two. Without a second thought, Delia fell asleep.

She woke up some time later, hearing the faint sound of water. She disregarded it and shifted hugging one of the large golden pillows. The water stopped. There was a flicker of light as a connecting door was opened. The brightness quickly disappeared, as the light was turned off. Delia rolled closer to her end of the bed. She sleepily reached for the glass of water sitting on the night stand and drank. She set the glass back down on its cooling pad. The circular pad emitted a high amount of coldness for its size, making the water feel as if it had been inside a refrigerator all along. 

"Are you awake?" Giovanni asked in such a quiet voice that it would be unperceivable for someone who was sleeping. He already knew the answer to the question.

"I'm sleeping," Delia whispered back, knowing all too well that replying gave away the opposite. Her eyes were closed, her breathing even and peaceful. She was half way to slumber land when she felt someone kissing her, someone who was suddenly very close to her. Her eyes shot open, "what are you doing?" Her voice came out louder than she intended. She hoped she didn't wake the pokemon that were sleeping in the room below. Maybe the rooms were sound proof, with all the other luxuries, it seemed quite possible.

"What do you think?" Giovanni whispered, but was interrupted by a pillow to the face. 

Delia continued stacking the abundant pillows in the middle of the bed. "Your side," she pointed to the other side of the pillow wall, "my side," she pointed to her own territory, "no trespassing!"

"You don't have to be so dramatic!" Giovanni protested.

Delia peeked out from behind her pillow barricade. She leaned on the pillows and seemed to consider her options. "Oh, what's the harm? It's just a little fun, right?" Her tone of voice was unusually seductive.

Giovanni grinned victoriously, "exactly." He received another pillow to the face.

"Oh sure, it's just a little fun," Delia sent another golden fluffy projectile Giovanni's way. "Maybe for you, but did you even," she grabbed a pillow and hit him with it, "stop to," she hit him with the pillow again, "think about," the relentless attack didn't cease, "how I feel?"

"Stop it!" Giovanni defended himself with another pillow. "I told you, you don't need to get so dramatic. If you're really not in the mood, you could just say so."

"That's not the point! You're so insensitive!" Delia argued.

"What did I do now?" Giovanni honestly didn't think Delia would be that upset. For a minute he actually thought she would agree to everything being harmless fun. She didn't even get that upset when she used to call him Charmander and tell him to chill out.

"The worse part is that you don't even realize it," she held the pillow in front of her and did a pillow tackle attack. It was one of the deadliest techniques of pillow fights.

Giovanni had interpreted Delia's lowering of her pillow as a sign of surrender. He wasn't particularly experienced with pillow fights. He was taken completely off guard with a pillow tackle that knocked the wind out of him and pushed him back on the bed.

Delia had plenty of pillow fighting experience. When she was a student with Professor Oak she was the champion among her classmates. Furthermore, Gary and Ash often had sleepovers orchestrated by Delia or Gary's mother. They saw it as a chance to spend the night competing against each other. After Ash lost his first few pillow fights miserably, Delia decided to train him in pillow combat. It became the only thing in which Gary never again got close to besting Ash when they were little. 

Giovanni wasn't even sure what just happened, but an upset Delia was staring down at him. It was one of those rare occasions in which her aggressive side managed to surface beyond her constant sweetness. He kind of liked it. In a split second he turn both of them over so he was pinning her to the bed, "I win," he grinned.

Delia tried to free her wrists from his grip, but found she could not. Instead she shifted her leg, "let me go or I'll knee you below the belt," she threatened.

"You wouldn't," he paused, observing her fierce glare, then finally let her go, "alright, you win."

Delia returned to her side of the bed and rebuilt the pillow wall. "Let's make a truce so we can get some sleep. Respect the pillow wall or I promise you Charmander, I'll fight dirty, nails and low kicks included." 

She looked less threatening, almost amused, which only bothered him more. Giovanni huffed, "you really didn't need to be so dramatic."

"Chill out, Charmander, let's get some rest," Delia resumed her peaceful slumber, uninterrupted until the following morning.

xoxox xox xoxox

The next day, Delia woke up to find that it was ten in the morning. "Why didn't you wake me up?" She called out loudly. Giovanni wasn't in the bedroom, but the door was opened so he could probably still hear her. He was most likely in the office area working on Team Rocket related things. She was sure she had set the alarm clock. She wanted to meet everyone early that day and help Daisy get ready for her big moment. She checked the alarm clock. It was off; it had to be Giovanni's little revenge for the events of the previous night.

Delia hurried to get ready, she showered changed and stopped by the office area before leaving. "I'll be back when it's time to get ready, don't forget the wedding starts at two, but I want to be there by one." She pouted indicating that she noticed his messing with the alarm clock.

He gave her a victorious smirk, he had not done much, but something small was still something, "don't be late."

"Don't worry; this peasant knows better than to leave the great king waiting." She turned to leave whispering, "unless she finds a new date," just loud enough for Giovanni to hear.

Giovanni didn't dignify the threat with an answer. She wouldn't mess things up. She would be back right on time to get into her dress and leave to go to the wedding. There was no need to remind her to be punctual. Then why did the possibility bother him so much?

xoxox xox xoxox

Razzo Albergo was a short walk away from the Cerulean gym. Delia made it there on foot and was pleasantly received. Daisy was already beginning to prepare, though Lando thought it was too early. None the less, he was forbidden from setting foot on the second floor so he wouldn't see Daisy's dress before the wedding. He also had to leave earlier then her. 

Ash thought it was too early to get ready. He was quite content snacking on some of the samples they brought over as a preview of what the snacks at the reception would be, before the big dinner. The guys seemed to be amused playing a pokemon themed card game so they could battle without making a mess. 

After chatting with Ash and the other young men for a moment, Delia went upstairs to where the girls were. Time flew by as they talked about the approaching wedding and discussed the vacation spots Daisy and Lando would visit in their honeymoon. 

Delia checked the time on her cell phone, "I should have brought my dress so I could get ready here. I have to go change; I'll see you at the wedding." After exchanging her goodbyes with the Waterflower sisters Delia left the gym. Lando and the men had already left to wait for Daisy at the church.

Delia hurried down the streets towards the tall building that was Razzo Albergo. She had dressed in a hurry in the morning and regretted wearing those heeled sandals, simply because they looked cute. It was rather inconvenient to walk in them, but she had been in too much of a rush to think about that.

A voice called out, "Oddish," and caught her attention from the side of the tall building. She caught a glimpse of a large Raticate carrying a little Oddish away. A woman dashed after them, "give me back my Oddish!"

Delia ran over to the action. It sounded like she needed help defending her pokemon from that seemingly wild one. She followed them to the back of the building.

The woman caught up to the Raticate and fought against him. The Raticate let go of the Oddish and ran away. "Are you alright Oddish?" She was on her knees with the Oddish in her arms. "Oddish, don't die!" The little Oddish was bleeding abundantly.

"You have to get her medical help right now!" Delia urged.

The unknown woman looked up from her Oddish, her expression full of worry. Tears were running from her eyes, her face partially covered by her thick blond hair. "I'm not from here, I don't know where the Pokemon Center is," she stammered. "Please," she began to stand up, "tell me where, oh!" The woman fell to her knees. "My ankle..."

"Oh no, you got hurt in the fight too," Delia closed the distance between them, determined to help them. "There's no time to get to the Pokemon Center, I'm sure there's a pokemon nurse at the hotel. I'll help," Delia took Oddish in her arms, allowing the woman to lean on her shoulder to get up. 

"Thank you so much," the woman's frightened voice turned aggressive, "Delia." She suddenly gripped Delia's neck in her arm, locking her in place.

Delia couldn't breathe. With the bleeding Oddish on one arm, she tried to pry the woman's arm away from her neck with the other hand. "Oddish is hurt," she pushed the choking words out.

"That thing can die for all I care and so can you," the mysterious woman reached behind her back. In a split second before she could turn her knife against Delia, Delia stomped hard on the woman's left foot.

The gold plated pointy heel of her sandal was stabbed into the woman's foot. The unknown woman hollered in pain and stumbled back, the knife still in her hand, and Delia's shoe stuck to her bleeding foot.

Taking advantage of the momentum, Delia quickly turned and kicked the unknown woman. She left her sandals behind and ran as fast as she could towards the front of the hotel with Oddish in her arms.

The doorman immediately noticed there was something extremely wrong. He recognized Delia as a very important guest. She was staying at the hotel with Giovanni, their boss. He was quick to lead her to the medical facilities, while the guards were dispatched to patrol the area around the hotel.

A doctor took care of Oddish, with two nurses also collaborating. The three surrounded the little pokemon fussing in complex medical terms. They worked to save the Oddish as if their very lives depended on it. For all they knew, it could have been true.

xoxox xox xoxox

Up in the best suite, Giovanni received an urgent phone call. "Sir, there has been an incident," the hotel manager's nervous voice came from the room's phone.

"What happened?" Giovanni demanded to know immediately. It was almost time to leave for the wedding. Delia claimed she wanted to be there an hour early, she was running late. Giovanni didn't need more trouble to deal with on top of that. The thought crossed his mind that she might not return, but she wouldn't miss the wedding, she had to come back.

"A suspicious woman was in the area. She attacked the lady's pokemon." The manager's voice turned quieter and more frightened with every word. The lady meant Delia, but all her pokemon had stayed behind at the hotel. They would go to the wedding with them when Delia returned. "She is here, in the medical area." The call dropped. The manager knew Giovanni must have hung up and was on his way down. He hurried to meet him in the medical area.

xoxox xox xoxox

Giovanni found Delia at the hotel's medical facilities. She was watching the doctor and nurses working to keep an Oddish alive. His eyes went to the big blood stain on her shirt. "Did you get hurt?" If that was the case, why was the medical staff tending to some pokemon and not her? They were trained to treat both.

Delia was focused on watching the medics and didn't hear Giovanni approach. She jumped a little, startled at suddenly hearing his voice. "Oddish is hurt!" She realized he was looking at her bloody clothes, "I'm alright, this isn't mine, it's Oddish's."

The hotel manager stood quietly to the side, he didn't dare speak. Giovanni casted a glance at him as if indicating that he was not excluded from his following question, "what happened?"

Delia began the explanation. "I was returning to the hotel. There was a Raticate attacking that Oddish. A woman chased after them and saved Oddish. Poor Oddish was badly hurt. I followed her to the back of the building. She sounded really worried. I thought she needed help, so I tried to help her. She caught me off guard and attacked me. I managed to get away from her and ran inside."

"Has the culprit been caught?" Giovanni's question carried a great deal of severity. 

The manager was a tall man, only an inch or two shorter than Giovanni. He had dark green hair brushed back with a generous amount of hair gel so that it wouldn't curl and look like seaweed on his head. His yellow eyes remained focused on the floor. "No sir, the security cameras in the back were deactivated at the time of the attack. We found the possible accomplice, he worked on security. We've detained him and are conducting an investigation."

"I expect results by the end of the day at the latest," Giovanni gave the manager a piercing glare.

The manager could only manage a worried, "yes, sir," before excusing himself to oversee the investigation.

Giovanni looked at Delia; she was once again watching the medics. Their voices were calmer and their motions more relaxed. "The danger has passed," the doctor finally announced, seeing Delia's expectant look. "I believe this entire situation was a set up. The cut was too deep and precise; it didn't match a Raticate's claws and teeth. I believe it was made with a knife. In any case, Oddish is in a stable condition now, but she must remain under medical watch outside of her pokeball."

"Thank you so much," Delia expressed her sincere gratitude towards the medical staff. They seemed pleasantly surprised at the honesty in her face and voice. "I will entrust Oddish to you, please take good care of her."

Delia spoke with the medics for a few more minutes before rejoining Giovanni. Everything indeed pointed to a set up. Someone had specifically targeted Delia. Giovanni had been more careful ever since the Tempest and Neo Rocket incident. Who planned the attack? What was their true goal? Was it an inside job or outside? Was it somehow related to Neo Rocket or Tempest? He thought he had cleaned that mess. Whatever it was, he would have to get to the bottom of it. He felt that someone had dared to challenge him again. The idea of Delia getting hurt infuriated him.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 78: Give me Celebrations

With the assurance that Oddish's life was out of danger, Delia focused on getting ready to attend Daisy's wedding. She followed Giovanni to the elevator, which went up to their suite where the pokemon were. Delia's cell phone rang on the way up and she answered it, "hi, I was just heading up to the suite. Yes, I need to shower first," she certainly didn't want to smell like blood. "Okay, I'll see you in a little while."

The call ended and Giovanni asked, "who was that?"

"Laiki," Delia replied, she was relaxing a little more by the second, as she focused on the coming celebration. "She said her mission was to help me get ready. She seemed to be enjoying it."

Giovanni remember how that started. Since he wanted to keep headquarters clean, most medical cases were tended to in the laboratories north-east of Vermilion City. Additionally, Team Rocket had reduced its field activities and pokemon theft significantly until the illness problem could be sorted out. It wouldn't be long before it became an epidemic if things were left to progress.

All those aspects left Laiki with basically nothing to do as the local nurse of the Viridian headquarters. Giovanni assigned her to help with all matters concerning Delia. She was Binks' sister, so Delia felt a certain familiarity towards her. Giovanni thought that Laiki may not be so happy to be further excluded from the medical happenings. She looked rather bored when she reported to him. To his surprise, Laiki's face brightened when he spoke of her new mission helping Delia prepare for the coming event.

Laiki didn't mind playing the role of maid at all, she seemed ecstatic about it. Giovanni decided not to try to understand her unexpected reaction. Laiki couldn't be happier with the arrangement. The Viridian gym leader's romantic involvement with the lady identified as the Indigo League champion's mother, was the hottest gossip in Kanto at the moment. It was a nosy girl's dream to be so close to the news.

"Did she forget to pack something?" Giovanni inquired, as far as he knew, Laiki's mission should have ended when she finished making sure Delia had all the things she needed in her luggage. 

"Oh no, she's here to help me get ready," Delia repeated, it apparently wasn't as clear as she thought. "It's a special occasion so it would make things a lot easier if I have some help. I helped the Waterflower sisters get ready when I went to the Cerulean gym. It's easier as a group."

"I didn't think your dress was that difficult to get into. You could have just asked for my help," Giovanni offered, a cocky grin appearing almost unconsciously.

Delia laughed, "stop it Charmander, that's not what I need help with. It would just be nice to have some hair and makeup assistance."

The elevator doors opened at the final floor. "I'd rather leave that to Laiki," Giovanni decided.

They went inside the suite where the pokemon were amusing themselves watching the big 3D mirror TV. Delia carefully retrieved her dress from their bed room closet and took it to the bathroom with her. 

Giovanni was nearly ready, he had already showered a little earlier while Delia was out and only really needed to change. He finished preparing just as the sound of running water ended.

A knock on the door was heard and Giovanni opened it to find Laiki dressed in the uniform of a hotel maid instead of her usual custom made Team Rocket uniform. "Agent Laiki reporting for duty!" She saluted as she chirped cheerfully. 

Giovanni didn't understand what was so exciting about her current mission. If anything, the cheerful enthusiasm would be good for Delia, so he didn't question it. Laiki practically bounced into the suite when Giovanni stepped aside to let her in. "I trust you are informed of the situation?"

Laiki's cheery face turned serious, "of course, I was having a look around. I can keep an eye on the local investigation and report. I have an odd feeling about this. Maybe it's a crazy attempt at vengeance."

It was a possibility that Giovanni had also considered. Perhaps the culprit had no goal in mind beyond Delia's death. It had to be someone who knew of Giovanni's double identities as the gym leader and mafia lord. It had to be someone desperate for vengeance, but who? It was too early to reach any real conclusions. "Yes, keep an eye on things and investigate any suspicious details. Delia is in the bedroom, she should be out of the shower by now. Don't bring up what happened."

"Understood, you can count on me, boss!" The nurse turned maid, happily bounced away. Her serious face had been restored to the excited cheer with which she entered the suite.

In the bedroom, Delia was already in her dress, brushing her hair. She greeted Laiki happily and the two began to chat. It was only small talk, though Delia made sure to ask Laiki to occasionally check on Oddish just in case. Delia got started on her make-up while Laiki worked with her hair. 

The minutes ticked away as Giovanni waited in the living room, crowded by all the pokemon. He examined the fancy grandfather clock, its golden pendulum swinging from side to side in a steady rhythm. Finally, the chatter that filtered out through the open bedroom door ceased, replaced with the sound of footsteps.

Laiki cheerfully announced, "presenting her royal highness, Queen Delia!"

Amused, Delia followed out of the bedroom and into the living room with a smile. She was wearing a pale lilac strapless long dress. Shiny thin silk was layered on top of the first fabric, giving it a sparkly look that was still subtle. Her fine diamond necklace sparkled with impressive elegance. Her makeup was light, but perfect, accentuating her features. Her eyes seemed to sparkle more than the diamonds themselves. The top part of her hair was pulled back into a flower shaped bun, with the lower portion flowing down her back.

It had been a long time since Giovanni last saw Delia all dressed up like that. In a split second, the pokemon surrounded her, speaking all at once in their own language. Delia talked to them, thanking them for the compliments. She couldn't really understand what they were saying, but there were other ways to interpret the messages. One by one, all but Persian were returned to their pokeballs to be set free when they arrived at the wedding.

After the crowd of pokemon disappeared in flashed of red beams, Delia and Giovanni were again face to face. She closed the distance between them and for a moment they didn't say anything, their faces speaking volumes. Laiki had to swallow a happy squeal while witnessing the scene. 

"You look beautiful," Giovanni finally spoke.

Delia's radiant smile became more so, "thank you, handsome."

For a moment they didn't even notice Laiki snapping out of her daze and hurrying to help Persian get dressed. If he was going to follow Giovanni around he would have to stand out from the many other pokemon she was sure would be at the wedding. She succeeded in getting the feline into his tuxedo top without incident. She thought he would protest, since the garments might feel odd to a pokemon, but he only walked over to the mirror and examined his reflection with pride.

Finally, Delia, Giovanni and Persian left towards the roof. The black helicopter with the green leaf would take them to the church. Afterwards, they would fly to Vermilion City to Lando's mansion.

The trip by air was very short since the destination was within Cerulean City. The city had grown over the years with less residents and more commerce. Not too far from the Cerulean gym and Razzo Albergo, there stood a majestic pure white structure. The helicopter landed in a large parking area near it. The parking was full of several other aircrafts including various helicopters similar to Giovanni's. However, the majority of the helicopters were larger, with two sets of blades to be able to fly. Those were brought over by Lando to transport the guests that didn't bring their own aerial transportation.

The church seemed to sparkle in an ivory glow under the bright light of the sun. Summer was nearing its end, but the weather was still quite warm and sunny on most days. The church had tall glass windows with several pastel colors blending into one on the glass that sparkled as a pure prism. The structure was built at an angle, slightly thinner as it went up. It gave the impression that the building was reaching out to the skies above. The tower in the center was made of a strong clear glass, culminating in an ivory cross. It looked as if the cross was floating atop a pillar of pure light.

A red carpet stretched out from within the church's long corridor all the way down its stairs, to the edge of the sidewalk. It looked like the red carpet of a celebrity awards show. As Delia walked down that carpet with Giovanni, she couldn't help it but to wonder if that was how it felt for famous actors and actresses.

The multiple voices coming from inside the church at least reassured them that the ceremony had not yet started. A man in a tuxedo received them at the entrance. "Good afternoon, friends of the bride I assume?" He recognized Giovanni as the Viridian City gym leader. All the gym leaders had been invited because the bride was from the Cerulean gym. "Do you have other pokemon with you that will be witnessing the ceremony?"

"Yes," Giovanni replied back into his gym leader persona. "Other than Persian we have six pokemon." Golem, Machamp, Rhydon, Cloyster, Kingler and Mimey.

"Excellent," the man looked pleased for no particular reason; he was simply trained to look happy about everything. "One pokemon may go with you to your seats; the others will sit with the other pokemon. That way it won't be too crowded over there. This way, please," his constant cheer was a little much, but at least he was quick to get people to their places. Delia and Giovanni released their pokemon from their pokeballs, instructing them to go sit down as the man indicated.

The church's ceiling was rounded, painted with pictures of angels and clouds. A thin unperceivable sheet of glass was place horizontally at the base of the rounded ceiling. It gave the paintings a 3D effect that made it look like the church had no ceiling and angels could be seen flying through the clouds above.

The long seats were not the hard seats found in most churches. The style was similar, long benches rather than individual chairs. They were made of wood that was polished like mirrors and had fluffy ivory cushions on the seats and backrest. The important guests such as gym leaders and those with high business positions sat close to the front, along with the closest relatives and friends. Everything was arranged for those who were known to be familiar with each other to be close enough to carry out conversations while they waited for the ceremony to begin. 

Delia and Giovanni, along with Persian, ended up sitting near the front, next to Ash. Ash had been talking to Misty focused on their conversation and didn't see them coming. The Waterflower sisters were all in their bridesmaid dresses. The fabric held various shades of blue that blended together as if the dress was made of water. It was accentuated with white at the end, like an ocean wave on the shore. Misty's hair, like Violet and Lily's was done up in a nice bun, a few wavy strands fashionably falling from it.

It wasn't until Misty smiled and looked towards the new arrivals that Ash finally noticed. He looked to the person who had sat beside him, pausing before realizing who she was. "Mom?"

Delia laughed, amused by Ash's surprise, "it looks like you're so happy staring at Misty you don't even notice anyone else," she joked. 

Ash smiled, with a light red tint on his cheeks. Misty did indeed look especially beautiful that day. Ash had not been able to take his eyes off her. 

"I knew it, I was right," Delia teased.

"I won't deny she looks like a movie star," Ash admitted, "and you too." He almost didn't recognize his own mother, until he took a good look at her face.

Before their conversation could really get going, the ceremony was ready to begin. Misty went to stand on the bridesmaids' side with Violet and Lily. The entire church became silent. A live orchestra occupied the area beside the altar where a chorus would usually stand. They began to play the classic wedding march as Daisy entered the church. 

Daisy's white dress was adorned with detailed embroidery. Though the thread was also ivory, it stood out subtly with its shine. Her long blond hair cascaded in elaborate curls, with a golden glow and small white daisies. A semi-transparent veil originated from her golden tiara, adorned with diamonds and pale sapphires. Her dress had similar jewels like drops of water. She walked slowly with a beautiful bouquet of white daisies with gold centers in her hands. All those present focused on the bride as she slowly walked towards her husband to be, her long dress trailing behind her.

Daisy finally made it to the altar where she joined Lando in front of the priest. The altar had a cross in the center with various paintings left and right of it, depicting legendary pokemon such as Arceus. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony. Do you Lando Ackbar take Daisy Waterflower to be your wife, to love and cherish for rich or poor, in health and in sickness, for all of eternity?" 

"I do," the husband had a silly grin on his face as if he was about to burst with joy.

"Do you Daisy Waterflower take Lando Ackbar to be your husband, to love and cherish for rich or poor, in health and in sickness, for all of eternity?"

"I do," Daisy had an absolutely dreamy expression, as if her life had suddenly become a happy fairytale.

"If there is anyone who would object to this marriage, speak now or forever hold your peace," after a short silent pause, the priest continued with the exchange of rings. "With this ring a thee wed, as a symbol of our love more endless than the ocean," the priest recited for the groom and bride to repeat.

"With this ring a thee wed, as a symbol of our love, more endless than the ocean," Lando placed the ring on Daisy's finger.

"With this ring a thee wed, as a symbol of our love, more endless than the ocean," Daisy placed the ring on Lando's finger. 

"I now declare you husband and wife! You may kiss the bride." The newlywed husband and wife kissed among the applause of all those present. The orchestra played again as they walked out of the church in a rain of rice. The ceremony went by perfectly, like a dream.

The guests soon exited the church as the newlyweds boarded their helicopter. Many pictures were taken before the aircraft took off. It carried a large sign that read 'just married' with a multitude of ribbons culminating in golden bells tied to the back of the helicopter. The bells rang in the wind all the way to Vermilion City. The guests all boarded the aerial transportation and flew to Vermilion City.

xoxox xox xoxox

After landing at Lando's mansion the festivities continued. The guests were led to the large party room where there would be food, music and dancing. The guests conversed and socialized with each other in the cheerful atmosphere. The party room was remodeled in a hurry, but it was a job well done. It was cleaned and polished. The hole on the ceiling was repaired with the addition of a glass dome that showed the sky.

"You did what?" Lando whispered under his breath as Daisy made a surprising revelation to him in secret.

"I invited the people from the secret club," the term secret club was their code name for the mafia. "I thought that if we're all going to be like one big happy family, we might as well be like friendly towards each other. I had Violet ask Kenobi to contact them. I like even spoke to someone high ranked over the phone. He said that an important person from their group would be here, but I might not like realize who that person is. It could be like anyone, I suppose."

Lando cautiously looked over his shoulder, "it could be... anyone..." he repeated nervously. He took a deep breath and decided to be brave. "My beloved, you are so courageous, embracing our situation in such a way. You truly are my greatest treasure and my inspiration!"

Daisy smiled brightly, "and you are the same for me, love." The newly weds were then reminded that the music was about to start. All the guests had arrived and settled into the party. The couple could have their first dance as husband and wife for all to witness. The guests gathered around watching them dance. At the end of the song there was a vast applause and everyone was free to join the dancing on the next song. 

At one of the snack tables, Jessie, James and Meowth were happily stuffing their faces. Their pokemon were having fun enjoying the party along with the other pokemon there. Daisy had only gotten to know Jessie briefly when she joined the Waterflowers for a girl's night out. Daisy had invited her to the wedding and encouraged her to bring her family, pokemon included. "There he comes," Meowth spotted Ash heading towards the snack table.

"Hide!" Jessie and James went under the table, but Meowth did not.

Ash arrived at the table, looking at Meowth curiously. Misty was talking to some guests with the other bridesmaids at the moment. "Meowth? Are Jessie and James here too? I didn't see them at the church." The reason for that was that Ash was sitting near Giovanni, whom Jessie and James were hiding from. They weren't sure how he would react to seeing them there, so they decided to avoid trouble. They hoped to blend in among the guests and not be spotted.

Meowth nodded, "yup, they're hiding under the table for no reason."

Jessie and James peeked out from under the table then went out of hiding and stood up. "When you say there he comes, be specific about what he!" Jessie scolded; she and James thought Meowth was warning them about Giovanni.

"Who are you hiding from?" Ash curiously inquired. He could think of no reason why they would need to hide. "You're not planning to cause trouble, are you?"

"Not at all, we just want to eat, dance and have fun," James cheered, while Jessie nodded in agreement.

"Yes, exactly, we sent a gift too," Jessie pointed at the big pile of presents that held a prominent spot on the party room. All the gifts from everyone had been sent in advanced and arranged in a tower. "It's somewhere in there."

"So if you're not planning to get into trouble why were you hiding?" Ash curiously insisted.

"Um... because we're shy?" James nervously replied.

"Force of habit," Jessie added nonchalant.

Ash shrugged, "I guess that makes sense," he then lowered his voice to a whisper, "if you want to battle I really don't mind. I know that's not in the program, but it'll save me from having to dance. When we were practicing I kept accidentally stepping on Misty's feet and she got mad at me. Daisy might get mad over the battling, but Misty has a bigger temper."

James shook his head, "poor Misty, I know how that feels. Jessie steps on my feet when we dance too, ow!" A pain on James' foot shut him up.

"I do not," Jessie removed her foot from James' foot and tried to look innocent.

Some distance away, Giovanni was playing his good gym leader role with Delia by his side. He thought he saw Jessie and James, but they had apparently not noticed he was watching them among the crowd. They were talking to Ash, but Giovanni couldn't hear what they were saying from that distance. As soon as he was free of the conversation, he began to move towards them. "I saw Jessie and James over there," he whispered to Delia without thinking much of it.

"Let's go say hi," Delia didn't take it as a big deal. She sounded like she was familiar with them.

"Friends of yours?" Giovanni inquired.

"Oh yes," Delia smiled.

"Those two better not be troublesome, I don't feel like dealing with more trouble today," Giovanni's patience was at its very limit.

"Don't worry, they're nice people," Delia looked at Giovanni, curiously, "I take it they're somehow in Team Rocket again?"

"Part time," Giovanni admitted, "they work in information gathering. For the most part they can continue living normally and running their pokemon day care center. They're surprisingly good at collecting rumors. Not many are more than just rumors, but it's still good to know what's being said."

"There he comes!" Meowth ducked under the table as Giovanni and Delia approached.

"Which he is it this time?" Jessie didn't sound alarmed. 

James spotted Giovanni and gasped, "hide!"

Jessie realized what was going on and rushed to get under the table with James. She scolded Meowth, "why didn't you warn us?"

"I did warn you, but if I warned you by name the twerp will know who we're hiding from," Meowth argued.

"He knows now anyway," Jessie retorted, "you could have used a code name."

"You mean like saying the ultra rare bottle cap is coming?" James inquired under the table.

"Too crazy," Jessie disagreed.

"Awesome is coming?" Meowth suggested.

"I thought you were over your obsession," Jessie rejected the idea. "You should have said orange alert."

"He doesn't wear orange anymore," Meowth argued.

Giovanni decided it was time to make the fact that he was aware of their presence known. "Have you seen any suspicious people around here?"

"Not really," Ash wondered why in the world were Jessie and James hiding. The realization hit him as he remembered the events that demolished the Viridian gym in the past. "Just out of curiosity, if you won a gym battle then decided to take a break. Then returned to find that the gym has been pretty much destroyed... Would you forgive the culprit if they were really sorry?"

Giovanni thought about what Ash said. He was talking about Jessie and James, but it reminded Giovanni of Ash involvement in 'recovering' the Viridian gym from them. He found himself wondering how much of the destruction could truly be blamed on Jessie and James. "Why do you ask? Did you ever do something like that?"

"No, I was asking because..." Ash paused, how would he word things so that Giovanni would forgive Jessie and James? "Actually..." Ash realized something, "that time was kind of my fault too." 

Delia observed the exchange wondering what kind of conversation would continue to flow out of it. Part of her wanted to say something and another part didn't want to interrupt.

"The twerp is taking the fall for us," Jessie realized, whispering in a much quieter voice than before.

James was impressed, "wow, he must be a better friend than we thought."

Meowth got all emotional, "how noble!"

"I don't think he really knows what he's getting into. With the new relations being built..." Jessie referred to the situation with the Waterflowers, which was still unclear to her and James. "He shouldn't be getting in the boss' bad side now... or ever." 

"You're right, we can't let him," James tried to dramatically stand up and bashed his head against the table. "Ow!" He crawled from under the table with Jessie and Meowth.

The trio stood there, their presence revealed. They froze up completely and their minds went blank. Giovanni glared and they became more paralyzed. "I'm glad you decided to come out from under the table," Ash greeted, much to their dismay. "See? It's not scary out here."

"Twerp, your courage borders suicide at times," Jessie finally found her voice in a sarcastic remark.

"What are you talking about? You're not mad anymore, are you?" Ash gave Giovanni an innocent smile. "I mean you have a new gym and everything. Jessie and James are reformed... mostly," the last word was a whisper under his breath. "We didn't mean to break the gym. It was my fault too and we're all really sorry!"

While Ash confessed James whispered to Jessie, "don't you think they look alike when the twerp doesn't wear his hat and actually brushes his hair?"

"They kind of do," Jessie whispered back, their voices inaudible to anyone else. 

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. In the games you can turn pokemon into data, in the anime they need to be fed and exercised. In this story the technology to digitalize pokemon is something that is developed later. The song Vandel (Skye) sings to Belle in Diamond 77 is Melphina's song from Outlaw Star. Razzo Albergo means Rocket Hotel in Italian.


	23. Part 23

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 79: Give me Curiosity

Giovanni glared at Jessie and James. He had built the impression over the years that their mere presence was enough to cause trouble. Jessie and James stood straight and silent as if awaiting orders in a line of soldiers. He decided not to say anything to them for being there. 

Apparently their connection with the Waterflowers was better than he thought. If anything he could use that to get information from them in case anyone slipped up. Seeing Ash standing up for Jessie and James, offering to share the blame for the Viridian gym incident years ago, made Giovanni's thoughts about having a battle resurfaced. "I'll overlook that incident if you put up a good fight in a pokemon battle."

Ash's face was full of excitement, "right here and now?"

"No, not now," Delia interfered. "We're in the middle of a wedding party. Besides, look over there." Delia glanced towards Misty. "Misty is making a face that says 'this person is overloading me with invasive questions. Someone please give me an excuse to leave.' You should help her, go dance with her."

Ash observed Misty's expression. He stared and caught just the slightest most well hidden hint of discomfort. She kept staring back at him. "You can tell all that just by looking?" He was a little dense with subtle hints, but Misty couldn't give him anything obvious to work with at the time. "I'll go invite her to dance; I hope I don't step on her feet." He looked at Giovanni, the challenge still shining in his eyes, "we'll battle soon, I'm really looking forward to it."

"So am I," the uncontrollable desire to test his strength in a pokemon battle against Ash had resurfaced. It had to be done and soon. Once Ash was gone, Giovanni gave Jessie and James a serious look, "don't cause trouble, don't reveal anything and report on any information you hear about here."

"Yes, sir!" Jessie, James and Meowth chorused. Then their expressions turned to worry as they glanced at Delia. She wasn't supposed to know what that was about. Yet if that was the case, why did Giovanni speak so openly when she was listening?

Delia smiled sweetly with a reassuring expression, "it's okay, I know, but don't mention anything to Ash. I'm not quite ready for him to know yet." Delia felt terrible to still be keeping the secret from Ash, but that would end soon.

Jessie, James and Meowth knew that Delia was apparently dating Giovanni. Practically everyone in Kanto knew. They assumed that Giovanni kept his other identity a secret from her. They stood there in absolute shock, "stop making those faces, look natural," Giovanni urged with a threatening tone.

Jessie, James and Meowth nodded and occupied themselves eating. That was their way to look natural. They were still shocked that Delia knew about Giovanni's real career. They wondered just how much she knew. Sweet kind Delia with a mafia lord? Well, they do say that opposites attract.

Delia decided it was time to lessen the tensions and give Jessie and James the opportunity to get over their surprise in peace. "I want to dance," with that request, she got Giovanni away from Jessie and James.

Near the other end of the large party room, Lily shifted uncomfortably. "Do I have something on my face?" She finally asked.

"A lot of beauty," Brock replied, resisting the urge to take her hands in his. He didn't want to come off as too forward. He continued to stare at Lily and only Lily. If he kept his eyes on her, his gaze wouldn't wonder towards another pretty girl. There were many beautiful women in the party. At first the sight was too much for Brock, he had never seen so many attractive women in one place at the same time. He resolved his brain crash by volunteering to help make sure the pokemon were comfortable and well behaved at the church.

Lily looked away, feeling Brock's eyes still on her face. She looked back at him, his expression adoring and focused. "Stop it! You're like really creeping me out!"

Brock frowned, of course things had to end the same way they always did for him. He was so heartbroken he could cry. He tried really hard to be likable. He didn't try to take Lily's hand, or put his arm around her, or touch her in any way. He thought he was respecting her space and that if he kept doing that she would get closer to him when she felt ready. He looked at her the entire time, making sure to loyally focus his attention and not allow his eyes to wander. Nothing worked out for him. Perhaps he really would cry.

"Don't make that face, it's like you're about to cry," Lily paused, realizing just how right she was. "You really are about to cry. What's wrong? Do you like have a tummy ache?" Never before had she seen a man looking so agonized.

"You're not getting a restraining order are you? Nobody loves me!" Brock sniffled, his depression was simply too strong.

"Shh, don't make a scene," Lily smiled nervously and pulled Brock away to a quiet corner. "Like take a deep breath and calm down, then tell me what's wrong."

Brock nodded, breathing deeply. "I'm sad because I'm unlovable. I've been trying to be a good date but it's obvious I failed miserably. I tried to be loyal and have eyes only for you, but it backfired in the end. I'm cursed to loneliness."

"I have to admit, the staring was weird," Lily confessed, "I guess you're not such a bad date despite all that. It would be annoying if my date like spent the night looking at other girls. That doesn't mean you have to like completely avoid eye contact with every other female in the party." She decided she might as well make the most of her date. "Just try to relax, let's go dance for a while, okay?"

"Yes, my lady, anything you want, dear Lily!" Brock was quick to energetically agree.

"Right..." Lily still thought he went a bit far with his exaggerated attentions, but decided to view the date with an open mind.

The music and dancing continued until it was time for dinner. The guests were seated in long tables as the waiters and waitresses came and went with food. At Daisy's request, as many people as possible were invited. She wanted a big wedding with lots of guests. Because of that, Misty was encouraged to invite anyone she knew whom she thought could make it to the celebration, even if they were from other regions. Several nurse Joys were present, but there were no Jennys. Otoshi and his wife were there as well as other friends Misty contacted. Tracy had arrived from the Orange Islands just on time. Todd and Ritchie were among the sea of guests.

xoxox xox xoxox

While the wedding party was taking place at Vermilion City, the investigation continued in Cerulean City. The manager, Laiki and a few Rockets were studying the evidence in a secret basement at Razzo Albergo. Laiki watched the security videos again. The guard that had been accused of being an accomplice walked down the hall towards the camera room. He moved as if in a trance. Another guard passed by in the hall and greeted him. The suspicious guard didn't reply, as if he didn't see the other man, though he was hard to miss.

The accomplice continued towards the camera monitoring room and entered. That was the end of the significant part of the video from the restricted hallway. Seconds after the guard went inside the camera room, some of the hidden video cameras that secretly monitored the surrounding area outside of the hotel were deactivated. Shortly after, one of the still active cameras showed Delia walking down the side walk towards the hotel. None of the passer bys around her looked suspicious. Something caught Delia's attention and she disappeared behind the hotel. The cameras in that area were deactivated.

Laiki let out a breath and leaned back in the black chair. The camera room was dim, save for the lights of the multiple monitors. "I have a feeling this is going to be one tough case to crack," Laiki mused.

The strangest thing of all was that the accomplice had been found passed out in that very same camera room. After he deactivated the cameras outside he simply fainted. He had been interrogated, but apparently he didn't remember deactivating the cameras at all. His entire day was gone from his memories. 

xoxox xox xoxox

It was well past midnight when the wedding party finally ended at Lando's mansion in Vermilion City. The celebration culminated with an impressive display of fireworks. The guests gathered outside to watch as the newlyweds' helicopter took off into the night. They were off to their honeymoon and would not be back for a few days. Afterwards, the guests were shown to their rooms. It was late and they had all been invited to stay at the many rooms of the mansion. Persian was spending the night with the other pokemon in their large room.

Delia recognized the luggage that had already been delivered there. "Did they ask you about the room when they were arranging everything? No one really told me about it."

"Yes, since I said you were staying with me, it seems they decided not to call you about it," Giovanni revealed.

"How considerate of you to take care of everything," Delia's sarcastic remark came out with less energy than intended. "It's finally over..."

"I take it you're not only talking about the party?" Giovanni watched her with puzzlement. She seemed sad about something, almost afraid.

"I have to tell Ash the truth after this. I've been keeping the secret for so long. At first I thought I had to, but later it came to the point where keeping it would just make things more difficult for when it was eventually known. None the less, I will do this," her voice trembled as she paused in thought. "We'll go to Pallet Town and everything will be revealed."

"Pallet Town?" The topic of what to do next had not really been discussed. "I can't let you go back there, not after what happened today."

"Pallet Town is my home; of course I'm going back," Delia insisted. "It's perfectly safe there, it has been for years."

"People didn't know you back then. I didn't expect something like this would come out of all this publicity," the publicity had been indeed good. The tensions had lessened and with the public occupied on a different topic, the inconvenient theories and rumors ceased. 

"No one ever goes to Pallet Town," Delia argued. "It doesn't matter if people know me, that was just one incident. Besides, everyone knows everyone in Pallet Town and there are no lonely alleys to wander into.

Outside of the guest room where Giovanni and Delia were, Ash made his way down the hall. He thought he should at least say good night, since they had been caught up in the celebrations and not really talked much. The maid had said his mother was in the last room down the hall to the left. He stopped in front of the door and raised his hand to knock, but stopped before doing so. 

He froze as he heard his mother's voice from inside, she sounded sad. Then there was something that sounded like an argument, but Ash couldn't understand the words. He placed his ear to the door and listened. He knew he shouldn't be spying, but he couldn't help it.

"You're taking this too lightly," Giovanni insisted, more harshly than he intended. "Someone tried to kill you. Don't you understand that? Either you come with me or I'll have to post guards all around your house twenty-four seven. Somehow I don't think the locals will be very happy with that."

Ash went pale; someone had tried to kill his mother? Who? When? Why?

"I don't need a battalion in my house, I have my pokemon. Last time I didn't have them with me. I'll be fine; no one will come after me. I'm not going to give up my freedom," Delia insisted, the volume of her voice rising with every word.

"I'm not saying you have to give up your freedom, just consider the risks," Giovanni was cut off when Delia interrupted.

"Do you consider the risks? You're not exactly very careful yourself and you're alive." Delia held her ground, "I'm going back to Pallet Town and I'm going to tell Ash everything!"

"What if you're interrupted by a bullet?" Giovanni argued without thinking. They both paused and an uncomfortable silence invaded the room.

"Do you think they'll go after Ash?" Delia spoke with worry, her voice shaking.

Giovanni paused and gave the situation some thought, "I don't think they know who he really is," he finally voiced, the previous anger gone. 

"I wish..." Delia felt tears accumulating in her eyes and running down her face. "I wish that Ash's father was... the Viridian City gym leader, no one else. That's a selfish wish, I know. I won't wish for that anymore, I have no right to make that wish. This is what I feared, this is why I left. This is why I kept the truth from him. I have so many regrets..."

At that moment, Ash forced himself away from the door and stumbled in a shocked daze in the hallway. His heart was racing as were his thoughts. He wanted to listen at the door. He wanted to call his mother and listen to the truth right there. He just wanted to tare the door down and not leave until he had his answers. Yet he couldn't do it. His mother's past seemed to be more difficult and complicated than he ever thought.

The way she spoke gave him the impression that Giovanni wasn't his father. Was he a part of a complicated triangle which ended with a choice she later regretted? Just what did Giovanni mean by someone not knowing who he was? He was Ash Ketchum, he was the son of Delia and... a mysterious man. All the answers were in that man's identity. At least his mother sounded determined to reveal everything. 

Misty saw Ash standing out in the hall looking shocked and worried. She hurried to him. "Are you alright?" He seemed to be unable to find his voice, standing there by himself. Pikachu had gone with the other pokemon. "Ash," Misty gave him a concerned look. "Did something happen?"

Ash finally pushed some sound out of his throat, "let's not talk here."

Misty nodded and they walked back to his room. Ash tried to organize his thoughts as best as he could on the way. "We're here," Misty breathed. She observed as Ash sat down unenergetically on his bed, his eyes still wide, face pale. "You're really worrying me." She sat beside him. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Someone tried to kill mom," Ash's revelation took Misty completely off guard. She was expecting something shocking judging by the state he was in, but not that. "I was just going to say good night. I overheard her arguing with Giovanni. He was saying it was too dangerous in Pallet Town because someone had tried to kill her. It couldn't have been in town, someone would know, then everyone would know. It must have been somewhere else."

"Are you sure that's what you heard?" Misty slowly asked. "Who would want to hurt Delia? She's always been so kind. I can't imagine why anyone would hold a grudge against her."

"That's what I heard," it was hard to believe, but Ash was certain of it. "It's something related to my father. I heard her say she wished Giovanni was my father. Whatever is going on has to be related to my father. Mom said something about her leaving for this reason and not telling me. She was trying to protect me, but I'm not sure from what. Just who in the world was my father, or who is he? She kept saying she had to tell me. Maybe I should go right now and ask."

"Wait, Ash," Misty stopped Ash as he stood up and pulled him to sit down again. She kept her hands on his shoulders, looking into his eyes. "I don't think you should rush into this or jump to conclusions." It was a lot to take in.

"Mom's going to tell me anyway, that's true," Ash considered that fact. "Tomorrow... I'll let her sort out the past tonight. It sounded like Giovanni already knew about it. I'll let them talk, then tomorrow if mom doesn't bring it up, I will."

xoxox xox xoxox

Back at Delia and Giovanni's room, "do you regret the past?" Giovanni asked, the question came out before he could stop himself, before he could even think about why he was asking that.

"No," Delia sounded absolutely certain. Despite her worries and tears, she smiled, "I treasure the past and I also treasure the present. I regret waiting for so long to tell you and Ash. I regret having stolen him away and kept him to myself. I regret taking him away from you and you from him. If I had stayed, I would have regretted not being able to give Ash a peaceful childhood. I would have regretted it if he didn't have the chance to see the world and explore so many lands, free and without anything to hold him back. I would have regretted the risks, the crimes, the tragedies."

Delia continued, her voice full of emotion, "no matter what choices I make and no matter how strongly I feel about them when I make them, I always end up with regrets. Maybe I want too much; maybe I try to take more than I can have. Whatever it is, it's not my choice alone, maybe that's what I haven't been able to understand. Maybe I'm just selfish, or maybe I'm just scared of facing the truth. Do you hate me for leaving? Do you hate me for never telling you until now? Do you hate me because of what I led Ash to become?"

It was indeed too bad that someone with such skill and power would probably never agree to use it to attempt to rule the world. Giovanni knew Ash's values were too solidly anchored to ever be forgotten. Ash had his priorities, so did Delia and so did he. Somehow, he found he couldn't hate her for it, seeing her tortured expression, hearing her take all the blame for herself. He hugged her and held her close. She hugged him back as if holding on to life itself. "I told you before; you can't carry the weight of the world all by yourself." Maybe they weren't so different after all. They both wanted to make the world their own place. "I don't hate you; I don't think I ever have." His denial finally crumbled as he realized he still loved her.

The last of her tears for the night escaped Delia. Her stubborn hope resurfaced again like a defense mechanism of survival trying to preserve her will to live. There was hope and there would be hope as long as those she loved still existed. There would always be hope. 

There was too much to say, too much still left unresolved, but for just that moment they lived in the present, one second at a time. They kissed and it felt different than before, but at the same time familiar. There was no more pretending, there were no more doubts, no more misperceptions, no more lies. It was only them, real, imperfect, human, irreplaceable.

xoxox xox xoxox

When the next morning came the guests slowly left the mansion. Some stayed for breakfast, while others left early to return to their lives and businesses. A knock on the door woke Misty. 

The knock was followed by Brock's voice calling, "Ash, are you awake? I need your advice! You're engaged, so that means you must have some good advice on relationships if you made it that far. C'mon Ash, wake up! I'm too embarrassed to ask Misty for advice. Ash?" Brock looked left and right up and down the long hallway. He was so excited and nervous he was spilling his heart out right there in the hall. He was sure he would die of embarrassment if anyone, especially Lily, happened to walk by at that moment.

Misty woke up in full, rather than the half asleep daze she was in for a few seconds. Ash was uneasy, she stayed with him to keep him calm and they fell asleep. She tried to get up, slipping out of Ash's arms. He was still sleeping peacefully, with his head on her chest, "don't steal my pillow," he mumbled in his sleep, cuddling Misty.

Misty felt her face turn pink, "Ash, wake up," she shook him awake, or almost awake.

"Five more minutes... The battle can wait for five more minutes. Tell them I'll be right there..." Ash began to fall asleep again.

"Wake up!" Misty insisted.

"The Indigo League!" Ash suddenly jumped to his feat, "I'm late! I'm late!" He ran in circles around the room before reality finally caught up to him. He looked around and found Misty watching him. She was invaded by a fit of laughter and he attributed her pink face to laughing so much. "Good morning," Ash scratched the back of his head, a little embarrassed by his reaction to his nightmare. He only ever had that nightmare when something was bothering him.

Ash soon recalled what he had heard the previous night. After a night of slumber, he started to wonder if he really had misheard something. Brock's voice out the door interrupted his thoughts. "Ash?"

"Brock?" Without a second thought, Ash went over to open the door. "Good morning, come in."

Brock immediately noticed that Misty was in the room. "Misty?!"

"Ash was having a nightmare," Misty quickly explained.

"You heard!" Brock was mortified.

"Heard what?" As it often happened in all matters somehow related to love, Ash was clueless.

"You didn't?" Brock looked back and forth between Ash and Misty.

Finally Misty spoke, "alright, you might as well come clean. What's your big dilemma? My advice will be more effective than Ash's anyway."

Ash's confusion grew, "dilemma?" 

Brock took a deep breath and confessed. "Last night at the party, I asked Lily if she would go out with me in a second date. She said she would think about it. That's as close as I've ever been to a second date." It took less than one full date for him to scare off most women. "Should I wait until she decides to call me and say she'll go? Should I give her a day or two and ask again? Was she just letting me off easy? I don't know how to interpret this. I really don't want to mess this up."

"First and foremost, relax," Misty emphasized. "Next, try to be friends with Lily before asking her out again. Finally, you can go back to the Cerulean gym and help me deal with the separation anxiety I know is sure to come. Sooner or later it will sink in for Violet and Lily that Daisy is married and will be living with her husband. I'll say you just came over to hang out with me so Lily won't feel stalked, then you can hang out with all of us."

"Thanks Misty! I owe you my life!" Brock dramatized.

"One more thing, try to get some sleep, you have purple lines under your eyes," Misty insisted. "Relax, that is the key."

"Right, relax, relax," Brock was trying so hard to relax that he looked more tense. He had spent the entire night tossing and turning, trying to figure out what Lily's words really meant.

"I think I missed something," Ash correctly stated. Pikachu entered the room; the door had been left open. He was followed by Ash, Misty and Brock's other pokemon. "I have to go back to Pallet Town for a while," or to wherever his mother went so they could talk.

Misty nodded; she knew Ash needed some time alone with his mom. "Call me as soon as you can." She looked at the pokemon and smiled with trust, "take care of Ash for me." All the pokemon agreed cheerfully, though they didn't know the origin of the request.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 80: Give me Sincerity

"I still think going to Pallet Town is a bad idea," Giovanni insisted, displeased with the results of their argument.

"You said it was okay and I'm not letting you take that back," Delia reminded him with a victorious grin. Waking up in each others' arms that morning felt more natural than either would have expected.

"You know I didn't," Giovanni didn't count his so called agreement, "you shouldn't ask me important questions when I'm thinking of other things," he chose not to specify what other things, Delia already knew the answer to that.

"Either way, you know I would have gone anyway," Delia's mind was made up. She would talk to Ash in the peace of the home he grew up in and nothing would go wrong. They exited the room leaving the luggage behind for the staff to deliver to their helicopter.

As they walked down the hall, a maid caught sight of them as if she was searching for them. "Ah, I have found you," she smiled politely, "good morning, excuse me; I have a message for you. There is a lady named Ariana who wishes to speak with you immediately. She is waiting in one of the guest rooms. She requested to see the Viridian gym leader in private," the maid shifted uncomfortably, wondering what urgent business brought the mysterious lady to seek the gym leader.

The story sounded quite strange, but just as the one behind it expected, Giovanni had to investigate. "I'll go see what this is about, you should go get Ash. I'll take you back to Pallet Town in the helicopter."

Delia found the sudden arrival of Ariana to be strange too, but she agreed. "Alright, we'll be waiting." Whatever was going on, she should have the chance to find out about it soon. Maybe it was related to a new lead on who was behind the recent happenings.

Giovanni followed the maid to the guest room where Ariana was supposed to be waiting. When they arrived it was empty. The maid looked surprised, "I'm sure this is the right room. She looked down the hallway as if counting the doors. Another maid exited the room next door with a basket full of sheets to take to the laundry room. "Louise, did you see a lady with red hair leave this room?"

"Yes, she went out just as I came. I'm not sure who she was, a guest from yesterday's festivities, I assumed," Louise answered naturally.

"Oh, I'm sorry it seems she went somewhere else," the first maid felt a bit embarrassed, though she had no real reason, it had not been her fault.

"That's alright," Giovanni found the entire situation to be very suspicious. "I'm sure we'll run into each other soon enough." As soon as he was away from the maid he gave Ariana a quick call and got right to the point, "where are you?"

"Checking up on Johto's HQ," Ariana replied perplexed by the unexpected call from Giovanni. "Why do you ask? Do you need me to do something?"

"Never mind, keep working on what you're doing," Giovanni ended the call and hurried to find Delia. Needless to say, Ariana found the entire occurrence to be quite strange.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Delia?" A woman with short red hair approached Delia as she looked for Ash. Her large dark shades hid half her tanned face. The part that stood out the most were her thick boots, that looked as if they were several sizes too big for her. She was wearing a black business suit, but there was no red R present on it.

"Yes?" Delia didn't recognize the woman.

"Giovanni is leaving due to some unexpected business. He asked me to take you home. Please, come this way," she seemed to be in a hurry to leave.

"Where is Giovanni? I want to talk to him before he leaves," Delia insisted.

The woman spotted Giovanni at the end of the hall, coming from the direction opposite to where Delia was facing. He was faster than she expected. "There he comes, I will be waiting in the car outside, excuse me," the woman quickly left.

"Delia, who was that?" Giovanni seemed to have no idea that he was apparently leaving and someone was supposed to take Delia home.

Her eyes widened in realization. "She's suspicious, after her!" Delia wanted to end the danger as fast as possible. If she could get a clue from that woman, that might help.

Seeing Delia dash away after the unknown woman, Giovanni was quick to chase after her. Delia turned a corner and stopped. There was a fork and Delia had no clue which way to go. "She's gone, we won't catch her now," Giovanni voiced bitterly. The suspect was right there and she slipped away. "I can't bring any agents here without causing a commotion. It's best if we just leave. We're going to my place."

Delia sighed; the danger became very apparent in her mind. "Alright, for now I'll tell Ash you invited us over. Then I'll tell him the truth when we get there." She felt that she had no choice but to agree not to return to Pallet Town for the time being. She felt like she was being hunted down. She didn't want to get Ash involved, yet that was exactly what she was doing by telling him the truth. The need for him to be informed was more urgent, he had to be on his guard.

xoxox xox xoxox

Misty returned to Cerulean City with Violet, Lily and Brock, their transportation provided by Lando's staff. Ash boarded Giovanni's helicopter with his mother and the gym leader. The pokemon had all been reunited with their trainers. Most of them were in their pokeballs, save for Pikachu and Persian. The tension was heavy in the air at first. They all tried to lessen it with a casual conversation about pokemon battles. For a moment, the tension was lessened significantly as Ash and Giovanni spoke of their coming battle. Before that there was another more urgent matter to tend to that they all silently knew about.

They stopped at Pallet Town, since Delia wanted to personally assure Professor Oak that everything was alright. She knew he had been worried about her recent reunion with Giovanni and all that had been said in the news. Vandel watched the scene in secret. If Delia was with Team Rocket, she was safe; he didn't need to follow her. He wondered just when the chain of events that concluded with the great catastrophe would occur. He didn't know it had already started. He was soon called over by Gary to meet Ash.

Ash stopped by to talk to Gary while his mother went to see Professor Oak. Giovanni had decided to wait for them in the helicopter. He knew the effect of Delia's reassurance might not be as strong if he was there. Mother and son exited the Oak research lab together. "How was Belle?" Delia casually inquired; the silence that had fallen upon them after landing was too heavy.

"She's doing much better. Skye is helping Gary take care of her," Ash replied as casually as he could, but could think of nothing more to say. As they walked back to the helicopter, Ash tried to get the conversation going again so that the uncomfortable silence wouldn't return. He spotted the orange car in front of the house, "looks like Giovanni left his car there," he could think of nothing more to comment on.

"Actually, it's ours," Delia revealed, much to Ash's surprise she gave him the keys.

"Are you serious?" His worries were momentarily pushed back at the thought of being able to drive such a cool car.

"Yes, Giovanni said we could have it. You can use it whenever you want, I don't really need it much," Delia smiled as naturally as she could. Her mind was still focused on the approaching conversation she would have with Ash.

"Wow, that's really generous," Ash's focus shifted suddenly from the car to his questions. He wondered who his father was. If Giovanni had always been nice to his mother, why wasn't he chosen in their past triangle? Just who was the man who ended up winning his mother's heart? Who was his mysterious father?

The rest of the helicopter ride to Giovanni's mansion went by in relative silence. There were some attempts to converse, but the talking didn't quite pick up. Ash's questions had resurfaced too strongly.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Viridian Rocket headquarters one of the Rocket guards was surprised to find Iblis in the underground dungeon. "I thought you were on break," he curiously stated.

"I was, but a few things came up. Before I move on, I thought about doing one last interrogation with her," she glanced over at Poisona. Alakazam and Gengar were already out of their pokeballs, standing left and right of their trainer. "I'm not sure if I can get anything more out of her, but what can it hurt to try? Can you give me a moment alone with her?"

The request was not unusual. It was best for the subject being interrogated not to have any distractions. "Sure, I'll be out the door." He unlocked the cell before leaving. Poisona was chained to the wall so there was not much she could do.

"Wait," Iblis calling made the guard return. Iblis was examining the unmoving Poisona. "She's weak, too weak, we're losing her."

"Oh man, it's because she's been refusing to eat properly," the guard was annoyed. It would be bad if they ended up with a corpse in the dungeon. He knew Poisona was supposed to be handed over to the police alive after they were done getting information out of her. "The local nurse is not around. I'll have to call someone to take care of her."

"There's no time, I'll do it. I'm not an expert but I have some basic knowledge," Iblis offered, she knew she would be in trouble if she let the prisoner die. "Help me get her to the infirmary."

"Alright," the guard unlocked Poisona's chains. She fell limply into his arms, seemingly unconscious, but twitching slightly, as if she was aware.

"This is bad," Iblis observed Poisona's state, "at this rate, what awaits her is death."

As the last word escaped Iblis' lips, Poisona sprang to life. She tackled Iblis to the floor hard. The guard scrambled to pull Poisona back. The berserk lavender haired woman grabbed on to Iblis' leg as the shocked psychologist tried to kick her off. She gripped Iblis' ankle, twisting it painfully, before the guard finally managed to bind her wrists with handcuffs.

"I'd say this one's just about ready to be thrown in a padded room. Are you going to be okay?" The guard got to work on chaining Poisona. She was unusually strong for someone so thin. It was as if her body was running on pure adrenaline and she didn't care if she tore herself apart.

Iblis cursed loudly and glared at Poisona. Her two pokemon helped her up. She kept all her weight on her right foot. Her left ankle was still strangely twisted at an impossible angle within the flexible white boot. "I'll live," she painfully declared. 

xoxox xox xoxox

The helicopter transporting Giovanni, Ash and Delia landed at Giovanni's mansion between Kanto and Johto. The winged Rapidash statue on the fountain in front of the mansion reminded Ash of a Christmas decoration he still kept in Pallet Town. 

Ash and Delia were given a quick tour of the mansion, since Ash had not seen it before. Ash knew Giovanni must live in luxury, but he was taken by surprise with the appearance of his mansion. It was much fancier than Ash had imagined. After they were shown to their rooms, Giovanni left to tend to some business. Delia knew he must be going to oversee the progress of the investigation and the scientific studies, along with other Team Rocket business. He was also giving her some time alone with Ash.

After Giovanni left, Ash stood beside his mother as if waiting for her to say something. Pikachu stayed on his shoulder motionless; he could feel the uncertainty in the air. Persian had left with Giovanni, following him everywhere as he always did. "Ash, I promised to tell you about your father." Delia summoned all her courage and brought up the subject. She watched as Ash silently nodded expectantly, "let's go to your room, we can talk there without interruptions."

The room where Ash was staying was different from the one where Delia was locked before. It was in a different area of the mansion and looked much fancier. It was equipped with its own living room and a large bathroom aside from the bedroom. It had a large 3D mirror TV and a potent sound system as well as other modern luxuries. 

The color indigo predominated with accents of red and orange. It should have looked bright, yet it was all so well arranged, it had an elegant appearance. They sat down on the indigo couch, sinking into its softness among the red and orange cushions. Pikachu hopped off Ash and sat on the couch next to him, completely quiet.

"I don't even know where to start," Delia admitted. "I'm really sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I kept everything quiet for far too long. It's all somehow built up into... I don't even know what to call it."

"Just tell me everything, step by step," Ash encouraged.

"Alright," Delia nodded, "this will be a long talk." Instead of diving into the complications of the present, she started from the beginning. "There are things I've only half-told you. I guess I should start by clarifying that. I mentioned it took your father three days to get to Viridian City, but I never told you he came from Saffron City."

It was only the first bit of information and Ash was already surprised. He had thought his father was from Pallet Town. Thinking back on it, it was an impractical assumption. In that little town everyone knew everyone, if his father was really from there, or lived there at some point in the past, someone would have known. Someone would have slipped up and mentioned him. Ash realized that maybe all his assumptions about his father could be wrong. He listened with an open mind like a blank canvas for his mom to paint an entirely new picture on.

Delia continued, "I also told you that your father and I met in Cerulean City, that was true. It was also true that our first date," using the term of 'date' lightly, "was at the beach. We were interrupted when your father was attacked by a Gyarados."

Ash found himself reflecting on the similarities between himself and the mysterious man that was his father. Coincidentally, Misty was from Cerulean City and Ash's first official date with her was at a beach. Ash and Misty had let their pokemon out to play. Misty's Gyarados got protective of her, which was unfortunate for Ash. After defeating the Gyarados in a pokemon battle with some help from Pikachu, the water pokemon decided Ash was worthy to be with his trainer after all.

Delia continued her little review, "it's also true that we battled against evil pokemon gangs and rescued many pokemon that were being mistreated. We were also involved with the discovery of the cure to the epidemic many years ago. All of that is true, but I never told you the specifics."

Ash listened with attention, his curiosity building up with every passing second. Pikachu was in a similar state, his eyes also focused on Delia.

"I was doing an internship at the Cerulean City Pokemon Center," that much Ash knew, but the next part would be new to him. "One night, a gang of thieves snuck in and stole some of the pokemon from the center. I caught them in the act but was unable to stop them by myself. Your father was the leader of that gang."

Ash's jaw dropped. He tried to compose himself and urged his mother to continue with his eyes. 

"The pokemon were sick, the epidemic was at its worst. I didn't know what fate awaited them in the hands of that gang. That's why I followed them and insisted that they let me join. I wasn't trusted at first. They allowed me to care for the pokemon, but that was it. I stayed at the warehouse, where the stolen pokemon were kept. I had my chances to escape, but I didn't. After I earned some trust, I moved into their hideout," Delia recalled.

A million questions floated in Ash's head. He was unable to find his voice and simply nodded.

"Things happened quickly after that with one thing leading to another. Your father must have taken a liking to me, but I didn't trust him at first. By that time I had freedom within the gang and was able to reassure nurse Joy that I was alright, so she canceled her missing person report. I also stayed in contact with Professor Oak, who had been my teacher. Your father and I went to Pallet Town to give Professor Oak some samples to research. He promised not to cause trouble for Professor Oak or try to steal his pokemon if I dated him for a week. In the end, that week turned into something much longer," once Delia started to talk about it she became calmer, remembering those times.

The question was written all over Ash's expression, even if he couldn't fully voice it. He tried to push the words out, "does he...?"

"Yes," Delia understood, even if Ash didn't finish his question. "Professor Oak knows. I don't think anyone else in Pallet Town is truly aware of this, at least not beyond a few rumors. Either way, I'm sure Professor Oak is the only one who can make the connection, no one else in town would recognize your father if they saw him." They had seen him, but they had no idea who he really was beyond his public image.

Another wave of realization washed over Ash, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions. Was his father alive? He pleaded for more information with his expression.

Delia continued her narration, "Your father and I were heading back from Pallet when our friends from the gang called to say a rival gang attacked our hideout. The place went up in flames and there were many pokemon casualties. We didn't realize it at the time, but the enemy was taking advantage of the leader's absence. It was Tempest, the Tempest of the past, the original one. The other gang, the gang I was a part of was... Team Rocket."

"Team Rocket!" Ash's exclamation was chorused by Pikachu, who spoke in his own language. 

"I know it's a shock, but things were different back then," Delia tried to explain. "The epidemic was the greatest disaster and Tempest was doing some terrible things. They gave their pokemon all sorts of drugs to make them stronger at the cost of terrible side effects. Many pokemon were dying. That day, when Tempest burned down our home, your father and I rushed back to help our friends. We were chased by the police and even staged a false hostage situation where I pretended to have been kidnapped. When we made it to the hideout, it was too late for the pokemon in the blazing warehouse. All we could do was fight back with everything we had. The battle quickly turned around, it was as if having their leader with them was enough to give everyone strength. Then the police arrived and both Tempest and Team Rocket had to flee."

Ash's attention was completely captivated. He tried to imagine the Team Rocket of the past and how different it must have been. It almost sounded as if his mother was proud of the Team Rocket she remembered.

"Back then, Team Rocket was only a small gang. We fled to the south of Kanto and made ourselves at home in a beach-side cave," they were homeless, they didn't have anything, yet at that time, Delia felt that she had everything. "Tempest tracked us down and went on the attack. However, the drugs they fed their pokemon backfire and the pokemon... they didn't make it. Tempest had to retreat and we tracked them down to their hideout."

The entire story almost felt like the plot of a movie. It was amazing that it was actually real. It still had not fully sunk in for Ash or Pikachu.

"Do you remember the story I told you about when I used your father as a pokemon to battle a wild Graveler? That happened when we became trapped underground after Tempest attacked the beach cave." All the pieces of the puzzle were slowly falling into place and Delia felt the moment of truth approach. "Cloyster and Kingler were with me at that time. Cloyster was given to me as a Shellder by my friend Luke, from Team Rocket. I evolved him with a water stone to save your father from the wild Gyarados that attacked him during our 'date.' Kingler volunteered to come with me after witnessing that at the beach, back when he was Krabby."

Delia continued her story, dropping a few heavy hints that Ash took a while to catch, "your father's Rhydon, started out as a Rhyhorn he took from Venom, the Tempest leader. His Golem was the Graveler he battled. Tempest was allied to a lady called Amethyst. She was the Viridian gym leader at the time and the girlfriend of Venom. That was their hideout, the gym. Venom experimented on himself and turned into a mutant monster. Team Rocket stormed the Viridian gym one night. We fought Tempest and Venom. Your father's Machamp was originally Amethyst's Machoke. Venom took her pokemon and he... he killed her. Venom had many pokemon trapped in his hideout. They were set free and attacked Venom; that was his end."

Ash was still in shock, he needed to hear more. The infinity of questions in his head continued to expand. Added to the growing collection were questions about the Viridian gym and Giovanni's role in the story.

Delia was almost done with the story, "despite the sacrifices, we were victorious in more ways than one. We found Tempest's research for pokemon experimentation. The virus from the epidemic came from them. It was a side effect they allowed to run wild. Binks, a friend from Team Rocket who was good with science, studied the information with Professor Oak. Professor Oak knew a good portion of what happened and helped us. It was all so a cure could be produced. This was a big turning point for Team Rocket. We settled into the Viridian gym as our new home. Tempest was arrested and took the whole of the blame. Team Rocket had the antidote, they had influence, they would soon be unstoppable."

Ash was still yet to say another word.

Delia finished, "with our cured pokemon, we cleaned Kanto of other gangs. We battled and took away their pokemon. We healed them and made them our own. It would be years before any other gangs aside from Team Rocket surfaced. Throughout all of that, I had with me a pokemon egg. The egg was from a Persian who passed away when I was working at the warehouse. Your father's Persian started out as the Meowth that hatched from that egg."

Finally, all the dots were connected in Ash's head; his face was full of realization. Delia gave him a moment to process his thoughts and find his voice. "Cloyster, Kingler, Golem, Rhydon, Machamp, Persian, the Viridian City gym... all of that... it's all related to Giovanni, his pokemon, his gym."

"Yes, I already told him I would reveal the whole truth to you. Giovanni is your father, Giovanni Roketto," Delia finally revealed. It was clear Ash still had many questions. "This must remain a secret; he is not only the gym leader, but also the leader of Team Rocket. Please, don't be angry at him for not being there for you. He didn't know about you until recently. I never told him until now." Delia's regret resurfaced.

The things that Ash overheard started to make sense. His mother wasn't wishing that he had a different father; the man she spoke of was the same. It was his connection to the mafia she was talking about. That had to be the reason she was in danger. That was what she was protecting him from. Too many questions still remained. "Why?"

That one word felt like a cold stab for Delia. It was spoken without anger, only confusion. "Team Rocket took a more criminal approach to their activities, they became the mafia. I had many dear friends in Team Rocket, I still do," she admitted. "An anti-Rocket group picked a fight with us, a group that had ties to some of our friends from Team Rocket." Delia wasn't sure how much about that she should be revealing. She wanted Ash to meet Luke one day without making it too awkward for them. "Torn between family, love, friendship and loyalty, some of our friends ended up involved with the enemy's side. The battles that followed took many casualties. I saw a dear friend lose her mind and kill many, I saw another friend throw her life away for power. I saw my dear comrades suffering. It was too much. I didn't blame Giovanni and I still don't. He was involved, but he didn't cause those disasters, they were his friends too."

Delia swallowed and forced her voice to come out. She had tears in her eyes, but she didn't seem to notice. "I was almost engaged. Giovanni's proposal was interrupted and I didn't have the chance to give him my answer right away." It was ironic how much it paralleled Ash's situation. The difference was that Ash later received an answer. "I never told him, we were caught up trying to get things under control when everything fell apart. I was so close to saying yes. Even after all that I intended to stay. I still had hope. Giovanni is ambitious and sometimes extreme in his methods, but I... I loved him, I still do."

Ash was clouded by a vast confusion. If they were in love despite the situation, why did his parents go their separate ways? He saw his mother's sincerity. He saw how painful it was for her to leave his father. "Mom..." He hugged her; he couldn't stand to see her cry like that. "It's okay; you don't have to tell me everything at once."

Delia tried to even her breathing and calm her tears; Ash looked ready to cry himself. She must have worried him. "You've already waited too long to know," she insisted. "When I found out I was pregnant, everything changed," Delia decided to be honest about it. "You were a surprise, I'm happy you came to me. I'm very thankful for you," it was the one time she wasn't careful, the night of the Flame Festival in Cinnabar Island when Kanto was coated in the fiery colors of fall. "I wanted to give you a peaceful childhood, so I left. I didn't tell Giovanni about you, I left him a letter and my pokemon, then I went away. He must have known I went to Pallet Town, but he didn't know about you. He must have thought that life was too much for me, maybe he thought letting me go was what was best for both of us."

Delia looked into her son's eyes, "I'm so sorry. It was because of the choice I made that you never knew your father and he never knew you. I was only thinking about protecting you and acted on that. I don't know if I made the right choice, but I'm really proud of you and I love you so much. I'm sorry I kept the secret for so long, I'm sorry," her voice gave out and she could do nothing more than to hug her son as a rush of emotion overcame them both.

Ash and Delia's talk continued for several hours as Ash was given the chance to ask all the questions he wanted. Delia relived her past, the happy moments and the sad ones. Ash still needed some time for everything to sink in. They had some lunch and Ash took a nap. The racing thoughts that came with the truth were more exhausting than he imagined.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 81: Give me Clarity

At the control room of Giovanni's mansion, Pixel was going to check the status of the security system. Strangely enough, she found a man passed out on the floor. He was wearing a standard Team Rocket uniform. She looked towards the large computer screen that glowed as the center of attention of the room. "Deactivated?" 

Pixel hurried to the controls and tried to reactivate the security system. The alarms and cameras were both off. Was that man a traitor or an infiltrator? It didn't make sense that he was left on the floor, though he had no visible wounds. Maybe someone hit him with a blunt object and knocked him out. Either way he was still suspicious.

Pixel didn't know what in the world was going on, but someone locked her out of the system. Her ID and password were rejected. For all she knew, there could be any number of intruders in the mansion. She let out Prism, the Porygon, out of her lucky seven mini-laptop. "Prism, we need to activate the security system again. Actually, I'll leave you to it, there's an important guest I need to make sure is alright. I'll notify HQ just in case."

Pixel looked at the unconscious man suspiciously. She didn't want to leave him unguarded, so she released Pyro from his pokeball. "Watch this man, if he moves, incinerate him." The Charmander gave a little salute and glared at the unconscious man intensely. Pixel also released Peachy from her pokeball. "Get ready Peachy, we might have to deal with intruders!" The blue haired girl and her Pikachu rushed to find Delia.

xoxox xox xoxox

While Ash rested, Delia took a walk through the mansion. She passed by a spacious balcony overlooking a medium sized indoor pool. The one outside was much larger and had a tall diving board. On the opposite wall there hung a painting of Giovanni with his Persian. "Enjoying your stay, Delia?" 

Delia turned around to face the unknown woman that stood about five feet away from her. She had long faded pink hair and olive skin. Her brown eyes seemed to carry a large amount of anger. "Who are you?"

The woman grinned, "I suppose you could call me your rival." There was nothing that truly stood out about her civilian clothing. Her boots were a bit odd, several sizes much too big for her, though they somehow stayed in place, even if she moved with a limp.

"Rival?" Delia didn't understand what she was talking about. "What do you mean by that?"

"I guess you'll never know," the unknown woman pointed a gun at Delia.

"If you're my rival I challenge you to a pokemon battle," Delia insisted. 

"Fine, choose your pokemon," the unknown woman grinned wickedly. Delia released Cloyster from his pokeball. "I changed my mind, battle denied," the woman prepared to shoot; she wasn't willing to settle this in a pokemon battle. She would only be satisfied by Delia's death.

Cloyster jumped in front of Delia as a loud bang pierced the air. He had hardened his shell as much as he could. The bullet was caught in his shell, though it thankfully didn't perforate the shield to reach his vulnerable body. "Cloyster!" Delia yelled in agony, she recalled Cloyster into his pokeball for safety, "I'm sorry Cloyster, I'm so sorry!"

Down the hall, Pixel was alerted by the noise and hurried towards it. "Jump!" She called out to Delia as she threw Peachy ahead. Delia jumped off the balcony into the pool below and out of the way of Peachy's attack. "Thunderbolt!" The electric attack caught the woman off guard. 

The mysterious woman was electrocuted and thrown several feet back. She dropped her gun to the floor below and banged her head against the wall with the force of the momentum. She struggled to get on her feet and release one of her own pokemon. "Fearow, razor wind!" The pokemon speedily attacked, sending a storm of cutting wind to Peachy. While the flying pokemon attacked, the woman jumped on his back to make her escape. "Flygon, Garchomp, attack!" She released two pokemon just before Fearow's attack culminated.

"Peachy!" Pixel called out to her pokemon with concern.

"Chu!" The electric pokemon was still able to battle. With Pixel's path blocked, Fearow was able to escape through a window with the mysterious woman on his back. 

Delia returned to the top of the balcony and stopped Pixel before she could issue a command, "wait! Don't provoke them. Their trainer is gone and they don't look hostile."

Pixel looked at the Flygon and Garchomp. Delia was right, they were just standing there. "Why would she run away if she had these pokemon to fight for her? Why would she leave them behind?"

"She's not their trainer," Delia concluded, "they don't know her. It looks like they've been taught not to listen to strangers." She noticed them looking at the painting on the wall. "Could it be? Is he your trainer?"

The two pokemon nodded. They had been trained by both Giovanni and Luke, when Giovanni was busy. Luke taught them to recognize Giovanni as their main trainer and not to follow orders from anyone else, unless Giovanni told them to.

"Delia is the boss' lady, listen to her and I'm sure you'll see your trainer again soon," Pixel told the two pokemon. They were very strong, but relatively docile as long as they were not provoked or ordered to attack.

In a few seconds, the mansion was flooded with an army of black uniforms with red Rs. Delia was dripping wet from head to toe, but there was no time to waste. She had to make sure Ash was alright. The Rocket girl and the two pokemon followed Delia down the long elegant halls of the mansion. They reached Ash's room and Delia rushed inside.

A smile of relief formed on Delia's face as she realized that Ash slept through the whole thing. He was laying in bed in the same clothes, though he was missing his hat and shoes. He was stretched out it every direction, as if his arms and legs were reaching for the edge of the bed, which was still far from his reach. Ash had enough to think about already and didn't need any extra stress. The rooms must be sound proof. Delia turned back and left her son to rest. 

xoxox xox xoxox

The area around the mansion outside was also flooded with Rockets. "I found someone!" One of the Rocket grunts spotted a figure laying on the ground. She was someone from Team Rocket and she was injured. They assumed the intruder must have attacked her. 

The Rocket woman lay motionless on the ground, face down. There was blood on the back of her head, sticking to her ebony hair and a blood stained rock nearby. It had been removed from the decorative circle of stones around the tree that currently shaded the unconscious woman from the sun. She was wearing a more business-like version of the Team Rocket uniform and her left leg was in a brace. A disk was on the ground near her.

xoxox xox xoxox

Inside the mansion, after checking on Ash, Delia closely examined Cloyster. "Oh no," her voice was full of concern and worry. "Stay still, I'll get it out," She reached into his shell with one arm and held her other hand on the other side. She pushed the bullet out and it landed on her palm. She examined the hole on Cloyster's shell. "I'm so sorry. I should have thought of the consequences before calling you out. I thought she would battle, I thought she agreed to that. I didn't expect her to shoot."

Pixel quietly watched Delia tend to her pokemon. "You had to call him out. Cloyster survived that, but you wouldn't have."

Delia looked up for a moment, from checking for any unnoticed injuries inside Cloyster's shell. He was alright on the inside at least. "You remind me of when I used to feel invincible with Team Rocket. It's an amazing feeling, but you shouldn't lose track of reality."

"I know the risks, but I'm not afraid to face them. I've found what I really want to do and I've been training for it. Team Rocket isn't just my escape anymore," Pixel smiled.

"If you keep looking at me like that, your adventurous mood might get contagious," it was dangerous. Delia didn't want to fall into the excitement as she had in the past. She might get carried away and lose sight of herself. Lately she wondered just who her true self was. Pixel only continued to smile at the prospect. Thankfully, Cloyster's shell could be repaired. He would be all better soon, as if that hole was never there. He knew that Delia was telling the truth about not intentionally using him as a shield. When it came down to it, the bullet was aimed at Delia, not him. It was Cloyster who willingly jumped in its path.

xoxox xox xoxox

Later, Ash yawned and stretched. It took him a moment to realize where he was. The bed was too big and soft to be part of the accommodations of a Pokemon Center. He sat up and allowed all his newly acquired information to resurface. He was in Giovanni's mansion. Giovanni was the leader of Team Rocket, he was... his father. 

Ash was completely at a loss of what to say to him when he saw him again. His mother didn't seem to blame him. She didn't hold Team Rocket against him. Team Rocket was a criminal organization. Was it truly capable of affecting Kanto in ways that were not always negative? The advancements fueled by Team Rocket came at a heavy price. Was it alright to be accepting of that? Would the good outweigh the bad if he was better informed?

His mother's values were something he was familiar with. He had been raised that way after all. She set that aside and made an exception for his father. Ash didn't fully understand that. He would keep the secret, for the time being, he wouldn't speak of Team Rocket. Until he sorted things out in his head, he wouldn't even tell Misty. He didn't want to drag her into an uncomfortable situation or danger. Nonetheless, he had a feeling that he would eventually end up telling her anyway.

Ash allowed himself to fall back into bed, turning his head to the side. "Pikachu, what are we going to do?" 

The little yellow pokemon sat beside him, looking as puzzled as his trainer for a moment. "Pikapi..." Pikachu's expression changed and he smiled, "pika chu!" It was as if he was trying to tell Ash he was thinking too much and worrying too much.

"Pokemon are pretty carefree," Ash couldn't help it but to smile back. "I guess I won't rush things." He examined the fancy clock on the wall with golden numbers on blue glass. He had slept for longer than he thought. "Let's have an afternoon snack."

Pikachu agreed and hopped on Ash's shoulder. The young man put his shoes on, which he had removed for his nap, and grabbed his hat. His hair was a little more rebellious after being rubbed against the pillow. Ash adjusted his hat on his head and opened the large door of his room. There were two Rockets standing left and right of the door. Ash came close to calling out for a Thunderbolt from Pikachu, but stopped himself from falling into the habit.

He proceeded to walk down the hall in search of his mother, without saying a word. One of the Rocket grunts stayed next to the door, while the other followed him. "Why are you following me?" Ash finally questioned, with a slight edge to his tone.

"The lady ordered that you be kept safe," the Rocket following Ash replied.

Before Ash could say anything, another Rocket approached from down the hall. "The security system has been repaired and the mansion is clear. We can lessen the guard now."

Ash listened to the exchange, "does that mean I can walk around on my own?"

"Yes, sir," the two Rockets chorused.

"Um... thanks..." Ash hurried away as fast as he could. 'That was weird,' he thought. 

xoxox xox xoxox

When Ash found his mother, she was in the company of another woman, who was being tended to by a doctor. They seemed to be in the middle of a conversation. Delia had since changed out of her wet clothes and Pixel had returned to the Viridian headquarters. Delia managed to talk Flygon and Garchomp into following Pixel, promising that she would take them to Giovanni.

"It's just not my day," Iblis sighed as the doctor finished bandaging her head. "First I get my ankle broken and then I get knocked out." She held an icepack to her forehead. She could feel her head pounding with frustration. "None the less, we should get to work. It's a good thing that strange woman who attacked me didn't seem to care about stealing anything." If she lost the disk with information about the investigation, it would have been quite troublesome.

Delia shook her head, "you need to rest. I'll look at the files and type up any information I can come up with," Delia paused, noticing Ash had entered the living room. "You should think about your health, not just work," Delia finished naturally, as if they were discussing some non-urgent business report. She smiled at Ash, as if calling him over, "this is my son, Ash. Ash, this is Iblis, she's..." someone who worked for Team Rocket and was injured on the job, "a friend," Delia finished, although she didn't really know Iblis well enough to truly be her friend.

"Ah yes, the Indigo League Champion," Iblis smiled, as if she didn't notice her own injuries at all. "It's a pleasure to meet someone so talented. You're an inspiration to all of Kanto and beyond. You will be participating in the next Indigo League championship, right?"

Ash was feeling uneasy because of his encounter with the Rockets, but his mood took a sharp turn upon receiving the compliments. He smiled from ear to ear, "I'll be there and I won't let you down!"

"You truly deserve all your success, best of luck," seeing Iblis being so nice to Ash, Delia felt better. She remembered her friends from Team Rocket, that was the Team Rocket she wanted Ash to know about. There was much more to them than a band of criminals.

Ash's ego trip was rather short. Just as quickly as he set aside his thoughts about Team Rocket, he picked them up again. The doctor silently left. He had a red R on the right top corner of his white lab coat. Ash's mind had focused so much on that little detailed that if someone asked him what the doctor looked like, he wouldn't really know. All that he would be able to say would be that the doctor was a person with a small red R on a white lab coat.

He wanted to have a nice conversation with his mother and her friend. He wanted to put aside his thoughts and confusion. He wanted to live in the moment and get lost in the feelings of accomplishment that came with thinking of his achievements. He knew he couldn't do that. It was only a matter of time before Giovanni returned and Ash was in no way ready to face him. As things stood at that very moment, Ash had no idea what he would say or how he would react if he saw Giovanni face to face again.

It was a strange feeling unlike anything he had ever felt before. Ash never had a father; he never had a man to look at and think 'one day I might be like him.' He had his mother and Professor Oak was very supportive as well, but it wasn't the same. When he was younger, he focused more so on what he had then on what he never knew. He was alright, though curious.

Finally, Giovanni entered the picture. Ash's buried curiosity and the feeling of missing something resurfaced without him even realizing it. Not knowing what he was doing, he unconsciously looked to the man he thought was only his mother's boyfriend for a paternal figure. Unconsciously he wondered if having Giovanni around was like having a father. He wondered if admiring his achievements was like looking up to a father. He wondered about many things. 

How did Giovanni speak to him so calmly knowing who he was? How did he keep his questions quiet? Did he have questions? Ash would assume he should. The young man felt overwhelmed with a look of desperation suddenly invading his face. He simply couldn't keep up with his racing thoughts. He wanted some sort of resolution, a closure that would bring stability. He wanted to once again think he understood his life, knew where he came from and where he was going.

"Ash?" Delia's soft voice rung out full of motherly concern.

Ash searched for something to focus on, "you're hurt," he finally pointed out, referring to Iblis. It was obvious; it was the thing that stood out the most at that moment.

"There's no need to worry," Iblis smiled as she took in Ash's expression. "You have a kind heart, I can tell. Well, I'm sure you must have things to talk to your mother about." Iblis got up, "I'll speak to you later, Delia. It was nice meeting you, Ash." She left the room as swiftly as she could, aided by a crutch. She was a proud woman, who would much rather get around herself, instead of accepting help from anyone.

As soon as Iblis was out of the room, Ash let himself fall on the couch next to his mother. After allowing things to sink in, he was ready for another long talk, which Delia was expecting.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Giovanni was in his above ground office at the Viridian gym. He was informed about the situation at the mansion, but it looked like everything was under control. He decided to wait a little longer before going back, so that Delia would have enough time to talk to Ash after things settled down. 

He had given her a quick call and was informed about what happened. Iblis had apparently gotten caught in the chaos, but recovered and intended to discuss the attempted murder investigation with Delia to build a better suspect profile. Building profiles to predict behavior was something Iblis did often, thus adding her to the investigation was only natural.

While Giovanni kept up with his work, Luke emptied his pockets, setting their contents on Giovanni's desk as he searched for something. A black wallet, a Seaking keychain with several silver keys and a pack of seasalt flavored gum, no pokeballs. Luke's only pokeballs were on his belt and those contained his own pokemon. "Dude, I'm like totally sure I like delivered them, you know? They're like not on my pokeball belt, they're like not in my pockets, they're like gone, you know?"

"I don't need to tell you how much it will bother me if you lost them," Giovanni was in a very bad mood. The only reason he didn't explode was because he knew Luke was usually careful with pokemon. He wouldn't just lose them, thus Giovanni gave him the benefit of the doubt. "Are you sure you left the pokeballs on my desk? I didn't see anyone come in here and I was only gone for a few minutes." The boy who dared to challenge him for an Earth badge was far below being a worthy opponent. There was nothing of importance in that office in comparison to the other one. It hid no real secrets, hence why the security wasn't as tight. Sometimes guests had to come in and he didn't want the office to look suspicious. 

"I'm like totally sure Flygon and Garchomp like won't listen to like anyone else, you know?" Luke insisted. "If someone like took them, they'll be like totally sorry, man!"

A knock on the door interrupted the conversation. "I'm busy," Giovanni replied, his mood worsening. 

Giovanni was about to express his disapproval to Luke when a voice from outside his door insisted upon the interruption. "Boss? I have your pokemon with me and they're getting impatient to see you. They won't go into pokeballs unless you tell them to."

"Come in," Giovanni finally agreed. He watched as a blue haired girl opened the door and entered the office followed by Flygon and Garchomp.

"Pixel, you found them!" Luke recognized her as one of Comet's friends. He was glad the two missing pokemon had been returned.

"Actually, I didn't really need to look for them," Pixel voiced.

"Explain," Giovanni insisted impatiently.

"I'm sure you must already be informed about the incident in your mansion," Pixel began. Giovanni nodded and she continued, "when the intruder escaped, she used these two pokemon to block my path and create a diversion. At first I thought they were her pokemon and prepared for a battle. Then Delia noticed they weren't hostile. They recognized you from a painting, that's how we knew they were yours. Delia talked them into following me here; they wanted to be returned to you."

"You see, dude? I like totally told you they would like not listen to like anyone else, you know?" Luke smiled proudly. He tried to take Giovanni's attention off his little slip off leaving the pokeballs alone on his desk and towards the job he did training the pokemon. "They're like Queen, like loyal."

Giovanni allowed the happenings to sink in, "it seems you did a good job training them after all," he gave Luke some credit, then looked at Pixel, "and you helped Delia, even though in the end the attacker escaped. I was unsure if Archer's suggestion to give you another chance would work out, but it seems you've become more dedicated. I understand that it was your Porygon which restored the mansion's software." Against the odds, she had faced an armed opponent to protect Delia. The would-be murderer escaped, but Delia came out of it unharmed.

"Yes..." Pixel was taken by surprise; she didn't expect to receive any special acknowledgement for what she did. Maybe the fact that it concerned Delia was the key factor. "I'm a Rocket, that's what I do. My specialty is more about technology, but I'm not afraid to face danger."

"Pixel's like a good girl, I mean like a good rocket, you know?" Luke added in his recommendation. Pixel was currently in a relatively low rank, but she had potential. Luke knew because of how Comet spoke of her.

"Make sure you don't lose that determination," Giovanni retrieved an upgrade from his desk drawer and gave the disk to Pixel. "Continue your training and don't disappoint me." Reading between the lines, this signified a promotion.

"Yes, sir!" Pixel chirped, pleasantly surprised.

"This mystery is about to be solved," Giovanni declared, "as soon as we know who stole Flygon and Garchomp, we'll know more about who's been after Delia." Whoever it was must have some kind of inside connection that was about to be discovered. In the end, the theft might have been a blessing in disguise. It was odd that the killer would make such a bold move to steal his pokemon; it would be a costly action. "Luke, we'll speak of your promotion later, for now just stay with your usual duties."

While Giovanni spoke to Pixel, Luke had unwrapped a piece of gum and put it in his mouth. He accidentally swallowed it upon hearing Giovanni's words. "My like what?"

"You've made up for the past; I'm moving you up in rank. I know you don't like executive positions and prefer training pokemon. That's your specialty, so your new position will be related to that." He would guide the Rockets to become stronger while at the same time keeping an eye on them and assessing their loyalty. The new internal training program was still under development. "That will have to wait until things calm down; everything is too busy right now."

"That's like awesome, thanks man!" Luke cheered.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon.


	24. Part 24

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 82: Give me Enthusiasm

At his office in the Viridian gym, Giovanni looked up the security videos from the gym area. There were no cameras inside the office, but there were some hidden in the halls of the gym. According to the images on his computer, only one person had been there during the time window when he was away battling as the gym leader. That had to be the thief; there was no other logical conclusion. Giovanni was very displeased and he didn't hide his expression. Of all the possible traitors, he didn't expect Laiki to be one. 

She was there at the hotel, she knew where they would be, she was a good liar. She was flirtatious and could have been using the men involved as accomplices. She had enough medical knowledge to concoct a serum that would make them faint and forget after a set amount of time. It would be just enough time to get the job done. She could have given it to them in a drink or something. Just because she was Binks' little sister and seemed to get along so well with Delia, didn't make her loyal. He couldn't let such thoughts get in the way of his judgment. It could all be an act.

"Dude, Giovanni, like what's wrong, man?" Luke didn't like the angry look on Giovanni's face and neither did Pixel.

"Laiki is a traitor," he turned the screen around for them to see the image captured by the camera. It showed someone identical to Laiki going into Giovanni's office. Given the timing, she would have plenty of time to deliver the pokemon to the assassin and even join her at the mansion if she wanted. He didn't notice the missing pokemon until Luke went to ask what he thought about them later.

"This like totally can't be!" Luke was quick to defend her. She was Binks' little sister and she had been a big sister figure to Comet. "There like has to be like a mistake, you know?"

"A picture's worth a thousand words, she's a traitor. Everything fits," Giovanni was tired of all the uncertainty that had invaded his life. He felt as if he was no longer in control of anything. It was a terrible feeling, especially for someone who was used to always being in control.

"I like don't think she would like betray Team Rocket, man!" Luke insisted firmly. 

Pixel looked at the two men, it didn't seem like Giovanni was listening to Luke's defense. "Excuse me; is there something I need to do? If not I'll go continue my training." 

"Go," Giovanni dismissed her. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, in the living quarters of the rocket base, Purry watched as Comet slept. He was snoring, which prevented her from sleeping because of all the noise. Peachy's soft 'chu' sounds were nothing compared to the all out unconscious attack Comet was releasing into the sound waves. She hissed in exasperation and picked up Gyarados' pokeball. She held it above Comet's face, 'I hope you like seafood as much as I do,' Purry grinned mischievously. She released the Gyarados into the unsuspecting young man's mouth when he opened it in a loud snore. 

Naturally, the water pokemon was far too large to fit in his mouth. Instead, Gyarados materialized on top of Comet suffocating him momentarily and nearly crushing him. Bumping his head on the ceiling of the room, Gyarados immediately retreated into his pokeball again before the red beam completely disappeared.

"Ow," Comet wasn't sure what just happened. He saw a flash of red and blue and felt as if he was being flattened by something very heavy. The feeling only lasted a second, but it was painful. Thankfully nothing was broken. He sat up and rubbed his aching head, carefully stretching his neck in slow circular motions. He looked at Purry, who was sitting on the bed next to him. "Did you just try to feed me Gyarados?" It was simply unbelievable. He considered it being a dream, but the pain was too real.

'Who me?' Purry gave him a look of faked innocence at first. Then she glared fiercely, 'yes I did and if you don't stop snoring I'll feed you Gyarados and Scyther together next time!'

Comet had no idea what Purry was saying in her pokemon language, but she was angry. "Peace," he tried to calm her. She had let him know that she didn't like it when he snored, but he didn't think she would take such extreme actions to stop him. "I won't snore anymore, I promise." He was determined never to snore again; it had become a matter of life or death. 

By strength of will and survival instinct, Comet kept his promise. Even so, Purry was no longer in the mood for a nap and left Comet to his recovery by himself. She went out of the room and walked around the base, her sharp battle senses immediately noticing the tension in the air. Pixel ran by, dashing towards the nearest exit. Curious about what in the world she could be missing, Purry hurried after Pixel.

xoxox xox xoxox

It didn't take Pixel long to locate Laiki in Viridian City. She was at a cafe flirting with one of the waiters. Looking left and right, to make sure she wasn't followed, Pixel went in and approached Laiki. "We need to go see Delia."

"Right now?" Laiki wasn't sure what this was about, but Pixel looked ready to drag her out if she didn't hurry. "Okay, just let me get his number," she winked at the waiter. However, the young man was staring at something that was not part of Laiki's person. She pouted, 'why is he staring at Pixel? My chest is bigger!' She frowned in frustration, then realized he was actually staring at the red R on Pixel's shirt.

"Team Rocket," the waiter stammered. Unlike Pixel, Laiki was not in her uniform.

"Cosplay!" Pixel loudly exclaimed, she didn't have time to change. The waiter calmed down, as did the random customers and other employees who had noticed her presence. "Let's go," Pixel began to drag Laiki away by the arm, taking her out of the cafe.

"Ouch, wait, what kind of emergency are we dealing with here?" Laiki protested as they left the infatuated waiter to deal with the bill.

"You were framed, there's no time to explain," Pixel insisted. "Drop your cell phone so they can't track it."

"Framed? How was I framed? What was I framed for? I didn't do anything!" Laiki began getting upset, which would not help their situation.

"Calm down, I'll explain things when we're in the clear. Delia will understand, let's find her before anyone finds out I'm helping you and I get into trouble," Pixel urged. The two young women hurried to Giovanni's mansion. Fortunately, the taxi driver seemed to believe the cosplay story too.

xoxox xox xoxox

Time passed and the sun sunk in the horizon, not that Ash could see it beyond the wall of trees surrounding the mansion. He did notice the light becoming dimmer as he looked out the window. Realizations were indeed exhausting. He decided to rest a little more after that second talk with his mother. His mind was tired, but his body was not. He couldn't fall asleep, though he wanted to. Instead, he thought about all the things he learned that day. 

What would Misty say? She had to find out at some point. For how long was he to keep the secret? How could things work out now if they didn't in the past? It was true that his mother no longer had a baby to raise. Was that all there was to it, or was that simply the last drop that pushed the flood of choices along?

A black limousine arrived at the mansion. Ash watched from the window as Giovanni exited it and headed for the mansion's front door. He stood frozen at the window, before finally backing away a few steps. He wasn't ready for this, he wanted to think, to let it all sink in. His memories of his time with Giovanni and all the things they talked about felt nearly unreal. It was almost like a dream he had woken up from. Ash felt as if he had lost control of his life, even if the things he found out about were never in his control to begin with.

His eyes traveled to the desk in the corner of the room. There was a notepad on top of the golden lined indigo furniture. He picked up the black pen with a green leaf on it. The notepad had a faded green leaf watermark to match. They both looked like the Earth badge, the symbol of the good gym leader who was in fact a mafia lord. Ash's messy penmanship flooded the notepad with black ink scribbles. He tore off the top sheet and crumpled it in his hand, squeezing the paper into a tight ball.

Pikachu watched as Ash threw the paper ball into the waste basket and once again, put pen to paper. He had enjoyed his time with Giovanni, but his perception of the gym leader was drastically changed all of a sudden. Ash didn't know what to think, he wasn't one to hate, but he was confused. He was afraid he might make a mess of everything if he said the wrong thing to Giovanni. He simply couldn't face him yet. With his short note finished, Ash gestured for Pikachu to climb on his shoulder and hurried away silently with his other pokemon in their pokeballs.

He exited the room without making a sound and snuck towards the back door. There were less Rockets around by then. Ash saw a few Rocket grunts on his way out, but they all identified him as the boss' special guest and didn't try to get in his way. He was able to exit the mansion easily. Once outside, he released Charizard and climbed on his back, "I need to go to... home, to Pallet Town." The powerful fire pokemon took off towards the Pallet House.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia sat looking at a laptop in one of the mansion's living rooms. She read through the reports and looked at the videos from Razzo Albergo's security system. Recently added to the collection of evidence, were the videos from the mansion before the cameras were deactivated. Only certain parts of the mansion had hidden cameras, such as some of the halls and the area surrounding it outside. The entire place had motion sensors able to identify the presence of practically anything anywhere in the large structure. 

Both the men that had deactivated the respective security systems at the hotel and mansion had passed out soon after. They both looked lost, similar to zombies. They had no memory of their traitorous actions; it was as if someone was controlling them. The women involved in the case all looked different. Blond, blue eyes, white skin, red hair, unknown eye color, tan skin, faded pink hair, brown eyes, olive skin. The last two had a taste for big thick looking boots and they were all out to kill Delia. She wondered if the same person was controlling them all. The women were much more aware than the men involved.

The butler entered the living room in relative silence. His soft footsteps were just loud enough to hint at his arrival so that his sudden voice wouldn't startle Delia. "Milady, Lord Roketto has returned," his dark violet eyes seemed to scan the room searching for anything suspicious. His face looked serene, but he was still alarmed by the recent happenings.

"Thank you, Rex," Delia smiled politely as the butler bowed; a single strand of auburn hair fell out of place as he did. She closed the laptop. Nothing seemed to stand out about the files she had been looking at. She still couldn't make sense of why the third would-be assassin had said she was her rival.

Delia followed the butler towards Giovanni, who was in the main room near the entrance talking to some Rockets. The Rockets dispersed soon after and Delia approached. The butler quietly excused himself, disappearing from sight at the same time as the Rockets. 

"Did you tell him?" Giovanni wasn't even sure why he bothered to voice the question. Delia's expression already gave him the news.

"Yes," Delia confirmed. "Ash is resting upstairs right now. I'm sure he has a lot of things he wants to ask you. You'll take some time to talk to him now, right?"

Busy as he was, Giovanni knew Delia wouldn't have it any other way, "yes." Besides, the executives and the high ranked Rockets could keep the organization running while he took some time off. It was something he wouldn't normally do, especially given the recent happenings, but he felt that he had to. He couldn't deny that he wondered what kind of reaction Ash had to learning the truth of his origins and his father.

Giovanni and Delia went to Ash's room. They found it quiet and empty. As Delia searched for any signs of her son, she spotted the notepad on the desk. It had been propped up against the wall at the desk's edge, instead of laying flat on its surface. That made it appear prominent and easy to see. Delia picked up the notepad, recognizing her son's handwriting. "I need to think. Don't worry, I'll be back soon. -Ash"

"So you both have a knack for running away," Giovanni wasn't sure if he should be annoyed, or disappointed that Ash didn't seem to have the courage to face him. Whatever his opinion of the situation was, he couldn't decide on it, but it wasn't indifference, it bothered him.

Delia's expression saddened, "it was too much all at once," she hugged the notepad as she felt guilt build up inside her. "I should have found a way to tell him more gently."

Delia was guilt tripping herself again, Ash had ran away, nothing was simple in Giovanni's life anymore. It had not been simple for years, but it was still rarely this complicated in such a way. All the betrayal around him reminded him of his least favorite parts of the past. "Forget it; let him do what he wants. I have other things to think about than the mood swings of some boy."

"Giovanni!" Delia could say nothing more than his name in a mixture of upset and sadness. She wished Ash would have at least spoken to her before leaving. He probably knew she would talk him into staying. She could understand his wish for some space, even if he had been waiting for answers for so long. Delia could relate; she too took some time before telling Giovanni the truth after they were reunited. She had to sort things out before she felt she knew what to say and how to say it. 

She didn't stop Giovanni from walking away. She couldn't fully blame him for not interpreting Ash's sudden departure in the best way. She couldn't blame Ash for needing time either. After Giovanni had left her alone in Ash's room, Delia called Ash. She had to know he was alright, even if she was aware he knew how to take care of himself. The possibility of him being targeted by an assassin still bothered her.

"Mom..." Delia breathed in relief when she heard Ash's voice coming from her cell phone. "I'm sorry I left like that."

"It's okay; I understand that you need time to think. I won't try to rush things. Where are you right now?" Delia hoped he wasn't too out in the open.

"At home," Ash replied, he was in the little house where he lived for the first ten, nearly eleven, years of his life.

"Let your pokemon out, I'm sure you'll feel better with them around," plus they could make sure Ash was safe. "I'll be there soon-"

"Don't worry," Ash interrupted, "you don't have to rush over. You should stay there; I'll be alright on my own. I just need some time to think. Tell Gio-um... father... I'm not mad at him," or at least he thought he wasn't, he wasn't sure. Referring to Giovanni as his father still felt very odd. Ash wondered if Giovanni thought of him as a son or if he was still allowing the fact to sink in. "I just need to sort my thoughts." The situation was complicated; Ash knew that, it was more complicated than words could say. "Mom, I'm not mad at you either, just so you know."

"That's good to know," Delia tried to keep her voice steady. She was determined to keep things as stable as possible so that Ash didn't find too much drama when he returned.

xoxox xox xoxox

On her way walking down the hall, off to find Giovanni, Delia saw Iblis. "Delia, there you are. Did you have a chance to study the files? Are there any clues you could point out?"

"Iblis, I thought you went home to rest," Delia had assumed Iblis was no longer in the mansion. The injured woman really needed to take some time off to recover. "I didn't notice anything in particular. Maybe if we looked at the videos together and discussed it we could come up with something. I'm sorry, I know this is urgent, but I need to talk to Giovanni right now. Plus you need to get some rest so you can have a full recovery from your injuries."

"Don't worry about me," Iblis insisted with a smile and adjusted her weight on the crutch. "Giovanni left a minute ago. I saw him on his way to the main front doors and tried to report a few things about the investigation. He didn't seem to be in the mood to talk to anyone. He left, looking quite angry. I'm not sure where he went, perhaps headquarters. I know it's none of my business, but did you two have a fight?"

"No, it's... well, I guess a little tension is to be expected. I'm sure things will sort themselves out," Delia wondered if she should go after Giovanni or give him some time to cool off first.

"Ash?" Iblis didn't need to wait for an answer as Delia's expression gave it away. "It is only natural for a mother to put her child before anything else in the world. Even if he is a young man, he's still your son." What Iblis was hinting at was different from how Delia interpreted her words. Iblis was encouraging her to leave, but Delia was more determined to stay.

"Yes, you're right," Delia nodded, finding a little bit of hope in Iblis' words. "One way or another they'll work things out, Ash is his son, one way or another, things will be okay in the end," Delia stopped herself. She wondered how much Iblis knew about Ash. The Rocket grunts didn't seem to know him beyond being Delia's son and Giovanni's guest. They didn't know he was also Giovanni's son.

For a split second shock overtook Iblis' face. She raised a delicate eyebrow and let out a soft, "oh?" Again, Delia didn't need to give any confirmation; it was all over her face. "I didn't realize you were so well acquainted with the boss in the past," she laughed softly, as if to get over her surprise. 

"Don't tell anyone," Delia quickly urged, "please." It might eventually be known, but she didn't want any extra pressure on Ash at the moment.

"Don't worry," Iblis smiled once more, "no one will know." She spoke with absolute certainty, as if she would personally make sure of it. "If you'll excuse me, I'm feeling tired. Maybe it's best if I leave."

Delia nodded in agreement, "yes, you should rest and recover, take care of your health."

"I appreciate your concern," Iblis left without looking back.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Delia!" A female voice, coming from down the hall reached Delia. She turned to see Laiki running towards her. Of all the places where she could go, no one expected her to go to the mansion of the man who had sent his agents to hunt her down. It seemed much more likely that she would run to Pewter City and hide there. It was convenient that she had carried out her plan to find a Kanto boyfriend with Rex, the young butler.

Pixel approached along with Laiki. Purry was on Pixel's shoulders looking in every direction. Persian would surely be there later. The mansion could provide her with a place to hide and watch him, accomplishing that at the boss' office would be difficult. The love struck Meowth jumped off the girl's shoulders and dashed away quiet and sneaky. She left the three human females to walk off somewhere and discuss whatever they seemed so eager to talk about.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 83: Give me Enlightenment

It was one of the most elegant and largest living rooms in the mansion. It could be used as a room to have a get together if a big open space wasn't needed, as the room was mostly occupied by furniture. It was in the middle of a collection of rooms that seemed to exist for the sole purpose of housing expensive furniture. The room had three large golden double doors connected to a square hallway all around it.

The most striking feature of the room was the artistic mural occupying the entire wall that was without doors. The painting was very realistic, as if the room had a glass wall with an ocean view. Several statues of water pokemon were placed in front of the painted wall; the 3D sculptures further brought the art to life. The sand was not a natural color, but the painting matched it, in a brilliant gold. It made Delia wonder if it really was gold dust.

The carpet had a design that made it look as if it was golden dust, though it was a thick fluffy plush texture. Delia shifted on the couch, the clear material it was made of looked like plastic, but it was far more comfortable than she imagined it would be. The water filling the peculiar couch shifted with little pokemon figurines floating inside it. Goldeen, Seaking, Magikarp, Horsea and Seadra were among them.

Pixel sat rather stiffly, she wasn't used to sitting on water furniture. Neither were the other two, but Delia adapted and Laiki's mind was elsewhere. "You're not going to believe what's happening!" Laiki bounced nervously in place. Her movements caused the water in the couch to shift. 

It made Delia and Pixel bounce too, in a human wave. "Stop rocking the boat!" Pixel complained.

Laiki ignored the complaint and continued her dramatics, "Maybe now I can get some answers. What am I being accused of?"

"This couch is weird," Pixel muttered as she tried to get somewhat comfortable. "You're being accused of stealing the boss' Flygon and Garchomp and giving them to the assassin. He thinks you're her accomplice."

"I know you're innocent," Delia offered, "when Giovanni returns, I'll talk to him."

"Thank you," Laiki sincerely voiced, though Giovanni's distrust still bothered her. "How in the world was I framed in the first place?"

"You, or rather someone who looked like you, was caught by the gym's security cameras in the hall," Pixel revealed. "It doesn't make sense."

"Exactly, I'm not a traitor!" Laiki emphasized.

"Sit still!" Pixel hissed as she and Delia was thrown against each other with the water couch's motions. "Anyway, that's not what I meant. I know you're not a traitor, but why would the assassin frame you specifically?"

The way she left, abandoning the stolen pokemon, was very suspicious. "Let's list off all the facts we have," Delia suggested. "Maybe if we put our heads together, we'll be able to figure this out. We'll get to the bottom of this and catch the culprit!" The two younger women nodded in agreement.

Rex entered the room with a tray of food and drinks. Laiki had met him in the hall before finding Delia and requested some snacks to calm her nerves. He paused and observed the scene before him. He had not really caught the conversation. A cold chill invaded him as he glanced at Delia. She was upset and looked very much like a lady of the mafia with the expression she wore. Her eyes seemed to say 'you'll regret making me angry.' This was quite different from her usual sweetness.

Pixel had a rather sadistic expression as she caught her right fist in her left hand. She was wearing iron knuckles attached to her black leather gloves. Laiki's expression could only be described as pure evil while she made stabbing motions in the air as if holding an invisible dagger. He felt his face becoming warm, he thought mafia girls were attractive, more so if they were a little rough. 

Rex quickly served the snacks on the small transparent, nearly invisible, coffee table in front of the group. He felt the three pairs of eyes on him and shifted uncomfortably. The same stubborn strand of auburn hair that always broke lose of the neatness of the rest of his hair did so again. 

"Thanks," Laiki winked, "if you don't mind, can you make sure no one interrupts? We're having some girl talk."

"Of course," Rex was quick to comply, hoping that the rush of blood to his face wasn't too obvious. The women looked like they were plotting the demise of all mankind. For all he knew, perhaps that was the very definition of girl talk. "Have a pleasant time, ladies," he swiftly left.

"He remembered the syrup," Pixel chirped in delight, as she picked up her plate with a dark chocolate and chocolate chip brownie. She began to pour a generous amount of chocolate syrup on it.

"Is that healthy?" Delia decided to eat her brownie without any additional ingredients; it was already sweet enough in her opinion.

"I'm a sugar junkie, I can take it," Pixel closed her eyes in delight, savoring the chocolate.

"I need comfort food," Laiki began to devour her brownie. She then paused and opened up the liquor bottle, serving it in the three cups. She picked one up and held it, "to... Rex and how cute he looks when he blushes."

Delia followed suit, holding up her own cup, "to... Giovanni and how adorable he looks when he cuddles Persian." 

"To..." Pixel paused, holding her cup up, "I don't have a boyfriend."

"What about Comet?" Laiki teased.

"Fine," Pixel smiled wickedly, "to Comet and how hot he looks all the time." Laiki's jaw dropped and her eyes opened wide. Seeing her expression, Pixel was invaded by a fit of laughter, which Delia couldn't help it but to join. "I know you're never going to let me forget that, no matter how many times I say I was kidding. That's alright because it was worth it to see you make that face."

"You're mean, you know that? Not that I didn't already know you like him," Laiki pouted and drank the rest of the contents of her cup.

Delia had only taken a sip for the toast and Pixel had not tried it at all. As an absolute lover of sugar, alcohol was too sour for her taste, unless it was in the form of a frosting covered spiked cake.

After getting a good laugh out of their systems, the three women gained focused expressions and Delia began to lay down the facts. "It all started at Razzo Albergo, a hotel in Cerulean City. I was attacked right next to it. The first attacker's left foot was injured in the fight."

"The security cameras in that alley were disabled," Laiki added. "This was done by a man who worked at the hotel. Peculiarly, he was found passed out at the control room with no memories of his actions." There was something else that stood out about that man, but Laiki couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Delia continued, "the second attack occurred at Vermilion City, in Lando's mansion. That second woman got past his security, probably taking advantage of the many guests that were there at the time to slip by unnoticed. She intended to lead me away, but her plan failed when she was unable to keep Giovanni distracted long enough. She ran away as soon as she saw him."

"At some point before the third attack someone who looked like Laiki stole the boss' pokemon from his gym office," Pixel added. "Then the third attack happened in this very mansion. Similar to the hotel incident, a man was found passed out after disabling the security system. He too worked for the boss. The woman involved escaped after leaving behind the two stolen pokemon. It makes no sense that she would abandon them after going through the trouble of stealing them. Stealing them was a very risky move. Even if she realized they wouldn't listen to someone they didn't know, she could have sold them or gotten rid of them. We can reason that she was desperate to escape, but even so something feels off. What do we know about her motive for the attempted murder?"

"Just theories," Laiki mused, "right now the theory that stands out the most is revenge on the boss."

"She said she was my rival, but didn't say in what sense," Delia revealed.

The statement caught Laiki's attention, "that has to be her motive! She's trying to steal the boss away from you; she's your rival in love!"

Delia thought about the possibility Laiki suggested. It seemed too much like something out of a TV drama, but she couldn't entirely discard the theory. "I suppose that would be a reason to get rid of me."

"She's in Team Rocket," Pixel concluded, "if she's so obsessed with the boss, then she must have met him as more than the gym leader. That is how she came into contact with the men from inside the organization."

"So then, the third woman is the leader of the operation?" Laiki wondered.

Delia's expression showed realization, "there might not be three."

Laiki was quick to follow the train of thought. "That's right, if someone who looked like me was caught on video, she must be a master of disguise! Furthermore, if she's that possessive of the boss, she might not want to work with other women, who could betray her and steal him for themselves."

Delia nodded, "the theory fits. Their voices sounded similar, though not exactly alike. She could have just been purposely changing her tone. The first woman had an injury on her left foot, the second and third women had very large boots. They were big enough to hide bandages and even some sort of thin brace or cast. Pain killers should make it possible to walk without too much trouble. Those three might have been one."

"Additionally, she hit her head when Peachy attacked, but that was later," Pixel recalled. "Laiki, you're always in touch with the latest gossip, what can you infer?"

"I'll take that as a compliment," Laiki paused, thinking hard, "there's a nagging detail I can't quite bring out from the back of my head. I know the boss has admirers, even though he seems blissfully unaware of the fact. None of them seems to fit the profile though."

"The part about the stolen pokemon still feels off, she could have sent one of her zombie men to do that with less of a risk," Pixel pointed out.

"That's it, the men!" Laiki remembered that nagging piece of information that hid in the back of her mind. "There was a rumor going around that Iblis was flirting with them, both of them. Icy Iblis taking interest in something other than poking around people's heads is a novelty."

"Icy Iblis?" Delia repeated. "She seemed nice, but she did have an injured left foot." She didn't want to jump to conclusions; Iblis had been polite to her and Ash. "Maybe that was just a coincidence."

"Poisona attacked Iblis during an interrogation session, that's never happened before. Iblis is usually in control of her interrogations," Laiki remembered what she had heard from one of the dungeon guards. "Her left ankle was injured when Poisona went wild. She has already been handed to the police by now. They shipped her off to a mental patient facility, I think."

"Oh my..." Delia was obviously horrified by the turn of events, but at least Iblis had an alibi. "Then Iblis' injury really did have another cause."

"Don't be so sure," Laiki tried hard to remember the timing and details, "I heard something about Iblis' rotten luck. Some Rockets were talking about how her possible boyfriend from Cerulean City turned out to be a traitor and how she had been seen walking with a limp. That was before the incident when Poisona attacked her."

"You've told me about her before," Pixel recalled. "She uses hypnotism as part of her interrogations, right?"

Delia's eyes widened as she followed the connecting dots, "do you think she hypnotized Poisona into hurting her to create an alibi?"

"It's possible," Laiki nodded. "If you say she was nice then she was definitely acting weird."

"It was convenient that she happened to be knocked out near by, apparently by a blunt hit to the head." Delia was getting suspicious and she didn't like it. Iblis had been so nice; she didn't like the feeling of distrust. Was that how Giovanni felt? Did he question his agents wondering when they would betray him? He must still have some trust at least with the executives. Delia knew he had to be careful and so did she, but she didn't want Giovanni to completely lose the ability to trust. 

Something suddenly clicked in Pixel's mind. The entire situation was like a video game where all the clues came together to reveal the truth. Like the lawyer protagonist, she had decided to believe in Laiki's innocence. After that, it was all a matter of putting the pieces together, like a detective. Wait, lawyer, detective... "Iblis is a psychologist, isn't she?"

"Yes, but she's more likely to traumatize her patients than help them," Laiki was always opposed to her treating her brother. Iblis was supposedly the best around in her field, so Giovanni put her on the job anyway. Binks wasn't one of the victims of her interrogations, but it still made Laiki uneasy to think that the torturer was trying to become her brother's healer. She would have no reason to hurt Binks. The boss considered him to be a valuable scientific resource. If Iblis didn't want to disappoint him, she truly had to try her best. It was those thoughts that made it possible for Laiki to deal with the prospect.

"We've stated that she is the culprit and so far everything fits. She wants to get rid of Delia, but knows it will be difficult. Even if she succeeded," Pixel certainly hoped not, "that would not mean that Giovanni would welcome her with open arms. If he has continued his past relationship, then we can conclude that he never let go of the past. Luke is in danger, that's why the executives are gone!"

"Woah, wait!" Laiki raised her hand in a sign of stop. "You lost me in your mental leap!"

"What do you mean? How do you know?" Delia wondered how everything was connected.

"Laiki, you're better informed than me, so confirm this," Pixel began her explanation, "is it true that the executives have been called to other regions recently due to several high ranking officers falling ill?"

"Yes, that is what's going through the rumor mill and I would say it's a reliable piece of information," Laiki paused and thought about it, then she made the connection. "The high ranked Rockets suffered from fainting spells attributed to stress. Ironically, they had been following a stress relieve program that included energy drinks and music. The items were sent to them by mail and were designed by... Iblis" The last word came out as a whisper.

"Ironically their stress level increased and their bodies were weakened," Pixel stated.

"Iblis is known to use chemicals to partially sedate her interrogation victims or make them hypersensitive to her convenience, she has access to such things," Laiki's heart pounded with worry as all the pieces were put together. She feared the revelation they had stumbled upon.

"Giovanni is without his closest friends," Delia realized, "with so many things going on, he must be close to a nervous break down for all we know. He's only human," Delia worried.

"She's trying to root out the past," Pixel concluded. "With the executives far away, they can't influence him. I don't know all the details, but Comet has told me a few stories about the past. When I went to Giovanni's gym office, with Flygon and Garchomp, Luke seemed to recognize them."

"Yes, he was training them," Laiki confirmed, she was in a sense, a human database of events and gossip.

"If the pokemon were stolen, Giovanni might ask Luke about it, right? The one framed for stealing them was Laiki." Pixel expressed her theory, "doubt, betrayal, stress, and uncertainty. She's trying to turn all the people that remind Giovanni of the past into bad memories. She wants to get rid of Delia and of anyone who is somehow connected to his past with her. She's tainting his memories little by little until he's forced to cast them aside, because it will just be too much to bear. The boss is strong, he's not easy to break, but she's getting desperate to accomplish it. Then, when his mind is at its weakest point, she'll find a way to mold his environment and make him think what she wants him to think. She would have the knowledge to do this if we consider her background. She's trying to brainwash him."

Laiki's face had become frozen in shock, as had Delia's. Pixel instinctively looked around the room despite not having heard anyone come in. For a second she almost expected Giovanni to be standing right behind her as she went on about her conclusions. It looked as if the other two women had seen a ghost and not of the pokemon variety.

"Binks," Laiki sobbed, her tears suddenly coming out like a flood. "She knows!" She spoke in desperation, her voice invaded by broken sobs. "She knows you've been seeing him, she has her ways to obtain information. She knows the past, she knows it. She probably forced it out of Binks early on, she's known all along. Now more than ever Binks' connection to you is obvious, she's going to kill him!"

"No!" Delia gasped. From the moment she found out the truth about Binks, she had been terrified that a mistake on her part would cause him irreparable damage. Had her help exposed him to greater dangers? "I didn't mean for him to be in danger, I don't want him to be hurt more."

Laiki tried to calm her crying, but the idea of her fragile brother being further tortured shook the very core of her being. When she was growing up, even if he was a little emotionally unstable, he was all she had until she adjusted to life in Team Rocket. "It's not your fault," she choked out, "I have to... I need to."

"I'll go," Delia insisted. "You need to stay hidden until I talk to Giovanni. Hide in one of the guest rooms here."

"Right..." Laiki nodded, still sobbing into Delia's shoulder. She had not noticed when Delia hugged her and started gently brushing her hair with one of her hands, the other softly placed on her back. "Rex is willing to help, I'm sure." When she thought of someone precious to her getting hurt, Laiki felt guilty about her multiple boyfriends. They might be precious to someone too, if they discovered her betrayal and suffered, would they feel pain similar to hers? Did they have friends and family who would be hurt because they were hurt? Laiki had to recognize the fact that she was emotionally overloaded if such thoughts plagued her. She was a natural player who very rarely felt a tiny hint of guilt. "That's it; I'm making a resolution here and now to stop being such a man addict." It was a resolution she would probably break. "I'm only keeping Rex because he's going to become my favorite after all the things I'll make him do to help us."

"I don't understand," Pixel finally voiced, she had been staring at the scene consumed by confusion. "Did I miss something?"

"It's a secret," Delia tried to explain. She stopped and looked at Laiki, encouraging her to be the one to reveal the truth. Binks was her brother and it was up to her to come clean about the situation to her friend.

Laiki nodded and tried to calm herself enough to speak clearly. "Comet doesn't know. I can't explain in full right now, but please don't tell him. Very few people know this, for now, keep it a secret." Laiki observed as Pixel nodded. "My brother, Binks, is alive. He's in a very fragile state of health and mind."

Pixel had many questions, but what stood out the most was the danger that could overtake him. "He'll need help," was all she could say, she didn't want to further upset Laiki. Pixel could doubt her own theory to reassure Laiki, but that would be a lie. She had confidence in her conclusions.

"I'll help him, I'll make sure he's alright," Delia assured.

One set of doors was suddenly thrown open and Rex rushed in. "Lord Roketto is here!"

"Go to a guest room. One that Giovanni has all but forgotten, far from his personal area of the mansion," Delia urged.

"Right," Pixel nodded, while Rex stared in confusion at Laiki, wondering what afflicted her. The two Rocket girls quickly snuck away.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 84: Give me Encouragement

At the Cerulean City gym, Misty had enough of those silly friendship and sibling movies. They had watched so many that all that was left to watch were the really cheesy movies with terrible acting. Then again, they could all fall into that category, but those last few were even worse. Lily and Violet were indeed hit by sisterly separation anxiety after they returned home. Kenobi had gone back to Viridian City to take care of some business related things. Violet had been calm at the time, but it didn't take her long to explode in a fit of sibling nostalgia.

"Here's the ice-cream," Brock brought over three bowls of ice-cream, each including equal portions of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry with chocolate syrup, a banana, peanuts and abundant rainbow sprinkles. He didn't seem to be bothered at all by the frilly pink apron he was wearing.

"Thanks," Lily picked up her bowl and placed an empty little cardboard box on the tray in its place. "Could you get more tissues, this next movie is like really emotional."

Misty could feel her eye twitch. The actors didn't put any emotion into their lines, though they did make exaggerated dramatic expressions, yelling or whispering. It was not the same thing. 

"Right away!" Brock had to go rent the movies, Brock had to prepare the snacks, Brock had to run random errands, Brock had to help with the gym's remodeling. Misty felt her eye twitch some more, Brock wasn't a slave.

"Thanks Brocky," Lily sniffled, though the movie had barely started. Misty also felt like crying, but only because the movie was so bad.

Brock's face was full of pride, "any time!" He skipped away to fetch another box of tissues.

Misty followed Brock, ignoring Violet when she called out, "you'll like miss the start of the movie!"

Away from her sisters, who were in the living room, Misty confronted Brock, "you don't need to do everything Lily tells you."

"I want to show her I can be loyal and dependable," Brock proudly declared. "Did you hear her? She called me Brocky, that has to be a good sign!" His face was slightly red and his head was in the clouds.

"I'm going to have a talk with Lily about this," Misty insisted, her face reflecting disapproval. She wondered if she and Ash used to enslave Brock in the past without realizing it.

"Please give me a chance, I can do this, I can prove myself worthy!" Brock looked like he was close to getting on his knees and begging. "Please, please, let me try to win Lily's heart."

Misty had no choice but to agree, "alright, I won't say anything. I just don't think it's nice that you're getting bossed around all the time."

"I don't mind," Brock desperately insisted. "If the orders come from Lily's gentle voice, I'll do anything I'm told to do!"

Misty sighed hopelessly, "oh brother..."

"Brother? You called me brother!" Brock cheered, "I knew it; I'm making progress. I have never lasted this long in a relationship before." He was practically jumping with happiness.

xoxox xox xoxox

In Pallet Town, Vandel, alias Skye, approached the Pallet House curiously. Ash had returned but there was still no sign of Delia. He decided to casually stop by to say hello and discretely ask about when Delia would return. Unless he got distracted and forgot to ask, which was a possibility Givan took into consideration. If the great catastrophe was to be avoided, Delia had to survive whatever fate was destined to befall her. Skye wished that he had an accurate version of history to go by, but he was stuck taking guesses at the time. "Ash!"

'Being inconspicuous was never his strong point,' Givan commented as he watched his trainer shout the name at the top of his lungs.

Ash looked out the window from his room to find Skye standing out on the street with a basket in his hands. Ash took a deep breath, the aroma of burgers reached his nose and his stomach growled loudly. It was dinner time and he wanted dinner. "I'll be right there!" Ash rushed down the stairs towards the front door. He had let all his pokemon out of their pokeballs as his mother advised. As a result, when dinner time came around, they cleaned out the refrigerator, leaving Ash with nothing to eat. Even the foods that required cooking were consumed thanks to the fire pokemon. 

Within seconds, Ash was opening the front door with a friendly smile, "hi, do I know you? Oh well, that's alright, come in, it's always good to make new friends!"

As Vandel entered, followed by his pokemon, Givan grumbled, 'he's so gullible.'

Pikachu observed the visitors, 'is there anything to worry about? There are many of us here to keep Ash safe.' He looked at the large Persian suspiciously.

'You have nothing to worry about from us. We're not the enemy, but the enemy is out there,' Givan couldn't really share anymore information because he didn't know the specifics. 

Pikachu took his words in a metaphorical sense and didn't inquire further. The Persian reminded him of someone, but he couldn't quite precise who. The Vulpix was also familiar, perhaps more so than the Persian.

Skye followed Ash to the kitchen setting the basket of appetizing scents on the table, around which they sat. "I'm Skye; I work for Gary, helping take care of the pokemon and stuff. I just thought I should come by and say hello. I've been taking care of your pokemon too, I even sang a lullaby to your Bellsprout," he wondered if he should be embarrassed about that.

"That's great, thanks for taking care of them. It sounds like you already know who I am," Ash eyed the basket. "It's nice of you to come over... so... what's in there?" His mouth watered some more. He already knew what was in the basket, burgers, lots of delicious burgers, the scent was unmistakable.

"Just some cheese burgers. I made them," Skye paused and corrected himself, "well, actually, Dia, my Vulpix, she was the one who cooked them. I just put them in the bread and added the cheese. Givan, my Persian, he... supervised," it would be more accurate to say that he complained about his trainer not adding all the condiments he liked to his burger. "We made too many," he removed the red and white checkered cloth that covered the basket. "I thought maybe you would like to try them."

Ash thought the boy would never get to that part. "Yes, please, thank you!" Ash happily exclaimed before stuffing one of the burgers in his mouth whole.

"I guess you were hungry," Skye stated the obvious.

Dia laughed, 'that look Vandel gets in his eyes sometimes reminds me of you,' she told Givan, 'but right now he seems similar to Ash.'

'Yeah,' Givan agreed, 'but if you ask him who he looks like he'll say the great Giovanni, in terms of personality, I'm not so sure.'

'Maybe he's a combination of both Ash and Giovanni,' Dia mused, 'they are both related to him after all.'

"Bulbasaur," though Charizard took a peek into the kitchen to make sure everything was okay, it was Bulbasaur who decided to stay while his fire comrade returned to the others and told them all was well. The unknown boy was apparently a friend of Ash. Their trainer had been feeling tense lately. Pikachu and the others had been talking about all the things happening with their trainer.

Ash swallowed the burger, miraculously not choking on it. It seemed the other pokemon were full, they had cleaned out the refrigerator after all. Even so, Bulbasaur could not pass up the opportunity to have a burger, he loved them. "Here you go," Ash gave Bulbasaur a cheese burger, which the pokemon took with his vine whip.

"Your Bulbasaur eats meat? I thought grass types were vegetarians," Skye observed. "I have a Bulbasaur too; it's much smaller than yours. Professor Oak just gave him to me. I tried to feed him a burger and he wouldn't eat it. Then again, it could be that he was full from eating all the salad when I let him out of his pokeball and didn't watch him closely enough. That's why there are no lettuce or tomato on those burgers."

"My Bulbasaur is very special," Ash smiled fondly as he took another burger from the basket, eating it slower than the first. "I'm really glad you came with these burgers, the pokemon ate all the food and I was hungry."

"Why didn't you just go over to Professor Oak's place?" Skye curiously asked. "He seems very kind; I bet he wouldn't mind sparing some food." If he gave away a pokemon just like that, he would definitely share food.

Ash took a big bite of his burger and focused on his chewing for a moment. He couldn't talk to Professor Oak until he sorted things out. He was aware that Professor Oak knew about Giovanni. If Ash saw him at that moment, he might ask too many questions. He wanted to let the information he already had sink in. He swallowed, actually having chewed his bite a proper thirty-two times. No one ever did that unless they were stalling. "I didn't want to bother him."

One of Skye's rare observant moments apparently occurred at that very second. "You're hiding something," he bluntly pointed out, which caused Ash to choke on his next bite. It all turned out to be a false alarm; Skye wasn't that observant, "I happen to know you won the Indigo League Championship," plus he was the son of the great Giovanni, who would be remembered by Rocket history, even if that history was close to changing. "Are you hiding from fans?"

"Something like that," Ash laughed. He took the assumption as a compliment.

"If it's troublesome, you could just disguise yourself," Skye suggested the most logical thing. "Professor Oak has a bunch of stuff you could use. It's just stashed up in the attic, so I'm sure he won't mind if you borrow something. Not that I was looking around or anything."

Ash's curiosity was captured, "what kind of stuff?"

"Wigs, lots of them," Skye revealed.

Ash blinked, why in the world would Professor Oak have a collection of wigs? "Wigs?" That was all he could say.

"Want me to get them for you? I'll be right back," Skye ran out of the house before Ash could reply. If Ash was trampled to death by crazy fans, that would not be good for Skye.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Oak research lab, the elderly Professor watched as Skye rushed in. Gary had returned to Pallet Town earlier that day and was immersed in his research. "You seem more energetic, are you getting used to your job here?"

"Kind of," Skye nodded, then went straight to the point. "Just out of curiosity, do you happen to have something that works as a disguise? Something like, I don't know, a collection of wigs?"

Professor Oak rubbed his chin in thought. He remembered that he indeed have a collection of wigs. It was quite a coincidence that Skye had asked. "There is something like that here. The wig collection belonged to my son. His wife liked to practice hair styling back when they were still dating. She would always make him wear wigs so she could work on a different style everyday. Let's get them from the attic."

The Oak attic was similar to most attics. It was cluttered with all sorts of old forgotten things and covered in dust. Skye knew exactly where to look since he had been up there recently in his curious investigations. He conveniently coincidentally found the box they were looking for and carried it out of the attic.

As Skye was ready to return to Ash with the supplies, Professor Oak curiously asked, "why did you want to borrow something like this?"

Gary had just finished an interesting day of research and was passing by down the hall. He saw Skye holding a box full of wigs and heard his answer, "Ash is being stalked by fans, so I'm helping him disguise himself." Unable to contain it, Gary fell into a fit of laughter. Not realizing what was so amusing, Skye assumed, "he must have made a really funny discovery." Skye would have to further inquire about that particular piece of research later. For the time being, he returned to the house where Ash was waiting.

xoxox xox xoxox

Skye delivered the box of wigs to Ash, who was quite impressed by the collection. "Wow, there are so many." He didn't really need to disguise himself. The entire thing about hiding from fans was something he played along with in a desperate moment when he thought Skye could see all his truths written on his face. It was silly; Ash's origins had always been what they were. He was still the same; the only difference was that he knew a little more about himself. The truths had always been present; the truths had always existed and would always be there. Realizing that made Ash feel a little better.

Skye picked up a black wig and took off his hat revealing his brown and blond hair. He put it on, brushing it with his fingers. After being in storage for so long, the hair on the wig was quite rebellious. He put on his red hat, watching as Ash's face lit up with amusement.

"Wow, anyone would think you're my brother or something," Ash laughed. Maybe a silly little distraction would be good for him now that his stomach was full. 

"Yeah, something like that," Skye laughed, they were not brothers, but they were related.

Ash picked up a blond wig from the box and put it on, hiding his black hair in it. "Do I look like a movie star?" He joked.

The pokemon soon joined in, many looking quite funny with hair. Givan didn't seem to be interested in such silly games and hissed at Vandel, alias Skye, to stay focused. Without his collar, the humans could not understand his words. Besides, Skye wasn't paying attention anyway. 

Time passed and Ash relaxed a little more. When Skye went back to the guest room at the Oak research lab, he left Givan and Dia at the Pallet House. Dia was entertained playing with the other pokemon. Givan looked grumpy, but he stayed with Dia anyway.

All was quiet and still in the little town of Pallet. Skye was too relaxed and sleepy to notice the dark figure hiding in the shadows at the end of the street near the brick fence of the Oak land. He didn't realize he was in danger until it was too late. A man with a zombie-like look in his eyes and a gas mask jumped in front of Skye. The unknown man swiftly threw a small object to the ground. The item exploded noiselessly into a cloud of purple smoke.

Skye coughed, unable to find his voice and call out for his pokemon. The strange smoke invaded his senses and he felt irresistibly sleepy. His vision became a blur and his body felt weak. He collapsed and was carried away into a car that hid in the shadows of the brick fence at the turn of the road. 

As soon as the unconscious Skye was in the car, the man with the gas mask collapsed. A woman glanced at the unconscious passenger that was thrown in the backseat. It was dark and she was in a hurry. He wore clothes similar to Ash; he had black hair and a red hat. She silently closed the car door and went to the driver's seat. She drove away hastily, but quietly. The man with the gas mask was left passed out on the road while the mysterious woman made her escape with the prisoner she thought was Ash.

xoxox xox xoxox

At Giovanni's mansion, from the second the rocket leader saw Delia hurrying towards him, he knew something was wrong. She had a look of absolute urgency in her eyes. "Delia, what is it?" A lot of things had been going wrong on that day and Giovanni could only assume the worse. "Did the assassin send someone else after you? Just how many enemies could we be dealing with?"

"Probably just one," Delia revealed hurriedly, "all the women involved are actually the same, Iblis. She's probably hypnotizing the men into helping her. Catching her is important, but saving Binks more so. She's going to attack him!"

The sudden overload of information was too much for Giovanni, "wait, slow down, how do you come up with all these theories?"

"They're not theories," Delia insisted with a serious expression, "they're conclusions. Let's hurry, we need to get to Binks," she started walking towards the front door of the mansion, making it clear that she was not stopping.

Giovanni was quick to follow her. "Alright, we'll go see Binks immediately. I'll call ahead to make sure he's okay, but you need to explain this to me on the way." He glanced at Persian, who was looking up at his human parents curiously and somewhat tiredly. The pokemon was starting to show signs of exhaustion. Due to the virus being spread so far across Kanto, the portions were much smaller, thus weaker. That didn't stop them from developing and becoming disastrous in time. At least they had time to prepare, but they were cutting it close. The illness was becoming known in Kanto as the pokemon deaths increased. "Stay here, Persian." 

Persian protested, making it clear that despite whatever was happening, he wanted to tag along. Delia caught on to Giovanni's precaution and insisted as well, "it's best if you stay." She petted Persian gently, "we'll be back later, you should take some time to rest." Persian realized he had no choice but to agree and let the two humans go.

There was no need for a limousine, especially when they were in a hurry, so they left in the red convertible instead. After Giovanni made his call to assure Binks' safety, he glanced at Delia, before turning his attention back to the road, "I'm listening."

"First of all you need to understand that Laiki was framed," Delia was quick to defend.

"How do you even know about that?" Giovanni already didn't like how the conversation was going. A thought occurred to him, this was Delia, of course she would know. People gravitated towards her sweet persona naturally; they trusted her with information, maybe even with their lives. "You know where she is," it was a conclusion, more so than a question.

"Yes," Delia confirmed, she had no intentions of denying it anyway. She also had no intentions of revealing Laiki's location until Giovanni was convinced that she was not a traitor. She would keep Pixel's involvement in secret.

Giovanni's mind was immediately flooded with theories. "Laiki is in Pallet Town," he guessed. "You're hiding her in your house, or maybe she took refuge with Professor Oak."

Delia decided not to reply and Giovanni didn't insist upon the question. Instead she continued informing him of the urgent matter. "Iblis is..." she paused, trying to figure out how to properly phrase it. Somehow, saying it aloud felt odd. "She's trying to steal you away from me," that was not how Delia wanted to say it, but this was not the time to go in mental circles trying to form the ideal explanation.

Giovanni almost chuckled, "there's nothing between us, there never has been, I assure you."

"That's not what I mean," Delia insisted, "she's trying to steal you by taking away our precious memories. She's turning all the good memories into something tainted. She wants you to feel betrayed by everyone who is somehow linked to the past. I trust Ash will be alright with his pokemon for now, but I can't let her keep doing this. I don't want you to forget how to trust. She disguised herself as Laiki, you believe me, don't you? Think about it, would Binks' little sister truly betray Team Rocket?"

"I would never have expected this from her," Giovanni admitted. Laiki had been with Team Rocket since a young age and had never shown any signs of being a traitor. As for Luke's little mishap leaving the pokeballs in his office unguarded, he knew it was only a mistake. Other than that, he had done a good job for years. It was something he received little credit for, until Delia's return somehow put Giovanni in a good enough mood to give him some credit. He was aware of Iblis' interest, though he never returned it. He didn't expect that she would go so far in a fit of jealousy. "I'm going to have the agents focus on finding Iblis instead."

"Yes," Delia adamantly agreed, "you should do that right away." She waiting for Giovanni to call, holding his little Rocket cell phone with one hand and the steering wheel with the other. She listened as he called off the search for Laiki and ordered his agents to look for Iblis. Giovanni closed his little cell phone and speed up, they were almost to Viridian City. "Giovanni, you have competent allies, you just need to trust your judgment and not give into doubts. I know you understand and that's part of what makes you a great leader."

"Then why didn't I predict Iblis would attack?" The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Iblis was known to be good with disguises, second only to Petrel. She sometimes used disguises as part of her interrogation techniques. The entire possibility of trying to play with his head, enraging as it was, also fit her background. Ash ran away bringing out past feelings of betrayal. It was as if Giovanni expected to be betrayed and was quick to jump to conclusions when he thought he was.

"You were thinking too hard instead of trusting yourself and your mind wasn't clear," Delia concluded. She observed Giovanni's seemingly neutral face for a long moment. She saw a hint of something in his eyes that she couldn't quite explain. Letting out a deep breath as they drove through Viridian City, she gently voiced, "Ash is not angry at you. He wanted you to know that, he just needed time to think." 

Giovanni didn't say anything, but his expression slightly changed. He was a little more relaxed despite the situation, almost relieved. They had arrived at the Viridian gym and quickly went in. They headed into the underground base and to the elevator that would lead them to Binks.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, in Comet's room, underground at the Viridian Rocket headquarters, Luke watched his son with concern. The young man who looked so much like him had always been strong. Maybe Laiki's worries were correct after all. Comet was unconscious on his bed, his face reddened with a very high fever. His breaths were slow and uneven, his expression occasionally reflecting pain. Yet the thought of him never waking up was an impossibility in Luke's mind. Comet didn't remember his early childhood and he had no clue about who his mother could have been. Somehow, truths had a way of being revealed in time. Luke had to wonder if Comet would live long enough to find out.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. The videogame Pixel was reminded of on Diamond 83 was Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.


	25. Part 25

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 85: Give me Healing

At the Viridian Rocket base, Delia felt as if the elevator trip down, was taking ten times as long as it should. Giovanni had called to make sure that Binks was alright and the accusations against Laiki were dropped, at least for the time being. Ash would be alright, he had his pokemon, Delia trusted him to be well. All that was left to do was to catch Iblis. Then why did she feel so uneasy?

The elevator doors finally opened and both its occupants stepped out. They made their way to the end of the hallway, adjusting from the relatively hot elevator to the cool air conditioner. Giovanni opened the door at the end of the hall and closed it again once he and Delia were inside Binks' living quarters.

Binks had been sitting on the couch with Raticate next to him. He contemplated a small vial in his hand containing a pale green tinted liquid. He stood as soon as he heard the door being opened and walked towards his visitors. "You're here for this, aren't you?" Binks motioned to the little vial he held. He was as thin as ever, his lab coat and clothing hanging off his bony body. His eyes were red and the purple bags under them stood out on his pale face.

"What is that?" Giovanni asked as naturally as he could. Despite Binks' appearance, his voice came out with clarity and not a hint of doubt.

"I was going to give it to you," Binks insisted. "I wouldn't deny him this chance. I lived this long, just so I could give him this," he sounded as if he was being invaded by a rush of emotion. "I want him to live. I don't know when it will happen, but I fear it will. How old is he now? Fifteen? Eighteen? Twenty? Twenty-five? I'm afraid I've lost the notion of time. I can't remember for my life how old he would be."

"Binks?" Delia spoke softly; so far it seemed that Binks was yet to acknowledge her presence. She didn't know what he was talking about, even Giovanni looked confused. Yet the Rocket leader also looked focused, as if he was expecting something that would confirm a vague theory. "Who are you talking about?"

"Do you know?" Binks addressed Delia with doubt, "do you know the truth?" He then looked at Giovanni again, "does she know?" Binks went back to looking at Delia, into her eyes, his expression grave. "If you knew, you would hate me even more."

"I don't hate you," Delia assured strongly. She noticed that Binks' voice came out with more certainty and clarity than before.

"I hate myself," Binks stated, his eyes traveling to the floor. "I carry so many sins, so much blood on my hands. He's my nightmare. Don't you know I see him every time I close my eyes? I see her too, I see them both, but she's better off than him. She lives, he is destined to die, but his brother is more important. His brother is... he's human!" Binks' tone became much louder at the last word. "He is, he really is, that boy, he's human, he's my nephew, please let him live!" His breathing became difficult; it looked like he was hyperventilating. 

"Calm down," Giovanni urged, raising his voice more than he meant.

"It's okay," Delia gently guided Binks to sit down on the couch. She sat down next to him, gently patting his back. "It's okay, we're here to help." 

Binks clutched the little vial in his right hand as if it was more precious than his own life. "Do you know?" He asked desperately, as he tried to catch his breath. Delia didn't seem to know what he was talking about. "Does she know?" He directed the question towards Giovanni.

Giovanni wasn't sure what to make of the situation except the worse. There were things of the past that Delia didn't know. There were things she would strongly disapprove of. Giovanni sat down on one of the seats near the couch and closed his eyes in thought. Binks' nephew, the one he referred to was not his biological nephew, just someone that he saw as a nephew. "She doesn't know."

Delia was taken by surprise with Giovanni's sudden reply. What was it that had Binks so shaken that she didn't know? She silently questioned Giovanni with her eyes. She wasn't sure if she should further inquire about the subject in front of Binks or try to change it. Clearly, the poor man was disturbed by the conversation. Even so, it didn't look like he could be made to drop the subject so easily.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to make her mad," Binks sobbed.

"I'm not mad," Delia gently assured, some urgency escaping into her voice and expression.

"Delia..." Giovanni paused and considered his options. There were things that he rather Delia not know, "you're not going to like this." Why was he even telling her? Why was she already giving him an understanding look when the topic had taken such a dark road?

"Should I confess my sins?" Binks looked between Giovanni and Delia unsure. His eyes finally settled on the small vial in his hand.

"I will listen," Delia voiced and prepared herself for the worse.

"It's been a long time," Binks breathed, "ten years, fifteen years, twenty years, twenty five years or maybe even thirty. I don't know how long it's been since that night in New Island. Aayla came to me and told me the truth. She wanted power and she wanted revenge on Venom. Most of all, she wanted redemption for someone precious to her. I was reluctant but could not refuse." Binks paused and looked at Delia, "do you remember her? Do you remember Aayla?"

Delia was shocked, but tried to hide it. She nodded slowly, "I remember, I will always remember." It looked like Binks had returned to the present. He wasn't sure how long it had been, but he knew that a considerable amount of time had passed. She glanced at Giovanni before looking back at Binks. If Giovanni's expression was any indication, the revelations would be grave.

"Before she joined us, before we met you," Binks spoke barely above a whisper, "Aayla was with Venom. They were lovers, I do not know to what extent in terms of love itself, but they were together physically at least. She was pregnant and he... he wanted to create something. Venom worked with his sister to create a sort of potion. Venom wanted power and Poisona wanted destruction. Aayla found out too late that she had prevailed. Her child was destined to become the bringer of death."

Delia felt her breath catch in her throat as Binks continued to stare at the little vial, avoiding her gaze. Her mind was racing with possibilities that felt too terrible to be true. Giovanni was caught off guard, he was expecting a different revelation, one related to Luke and Comet. He didn't know Binks was so well informed about Aayla's daughter. The scientist had never shared that information.

"Aayla managed to hide the child. She faked the girl's death and left her with someone she trusted. That is all I knew about the child for a long time," Binks glanced around the room, at Delia, at Giovanni, at Raticate, at the awards, at the strange painting and back at the little vial. "The child, from what I learned, was to carry a terrible virus in her body, allowing it to develop without spreading. It would concentrate in her system, becoming deadlier, mutating into something terrible," Binks paused as a few tears escaped him.

Delia could feel her heart pounding in terror at what she was hearing. She looked at Giovanni. He was surprised yet knowing. It was as if he knew only part of that information, or was shocked to find that Binks knew so much. She looked back at Binks, her hand gently on his thin shoulder. He looked so terribly fragile it broke her heart all over again.

"Along with the power, Aayla wanted the antidote," Binks revealed. Do you remember when we found all that data about the epidemic underground at the Viridian gym?" It seemed that Binks wasn't sure where he was, he didn't know that his current location was under the Viridian gym. "Don't you think it's strange that if all of that was documented in such detail, this was not?"

Giovanni's expression showed real surprise. "You knew this would happen. All these years, you knew she was out there. The files, they did exist," Giovanni realized.

Binks nodded, he took his eyes off the vial and faced Giovanni. "Aayla took the files and hid them when we were at Viridian. Later, at New Island she gave them to me with the whole truth. If I told anyone, the girl might have been hunted down, maybe even killed, to prevent this disaster. This is terrible indeed, but Aayla wanted her daughter to live, her little Secura. She was regretful. Is that not what we always do? Choose who will be sacrificed for us?"

"You have no idea what's been unleashed into the world!" Giovanni yelled. "If the pokemon die, if they are extinct, what do you think will happen? That might not even be the end of it, humans can carry the virus. It's harmless to us now, but viruses mutate, you don't have to be a science expert to know that much. This thing could very well end all life eventually. You knew and you didn't tell me? You just let it happen?" Giovanni reproached harshly, full of anger and frustration.

"Stop it!" Delia yelled.

Binks was shaking violently, his bony frame making odd noises as he moved. It was as if there was not enough meat in him to prevent his bones from rattling against each other. He sobbed and choked, his face turning purple.

Delia hugged the desperate Binks gently. She was afraid he would literally fall apart. "Shh, it's okay; just take a slow deep breath, don't try to talk. It's going to be alright. We're going to find a cure and everything will be okay."

"The cure," Binks sobbed, "the cure for the virus," he pushed out the words in a pained ragged voice, "the cure is with Aayla."

"Aayla is dead," Giovanni voiced barely above a whisper. "Where are the files?"

"New Island," Binks gasped.

"Destroyed, everything in New Island was destroyed," Giovanni was terribly frustrated. The situation looked more hopeless by the second. Binks had survived the explosion, but he was unconscious for a long time. As far as he knew, Mewtwo died there along with Dr. Fuji.

Binks shook his head, "she's alive, Aayla is alive, I'm sure of it! That's not all, that's not my only sin. There were twelve, twelve little boys."

"I've think you've said enough," Giovanni almost growled.

"Giovanni, stop; let him finish," Delia interfered; her expression was both determined and supportive. Binks looked as if his very life depended on his confession being heard. "It's true that I don't like this, it's true that I'm upset, but hiding it and keeping it bottled up won't do anyone any good. It won't help Binks and it won't help you. Let me help you carry this, I'll help you both," with her words, she extended the blame to Giovanni as well, no longer in denial about his influence in the experiments of the past. She knew it had to be about that, what else could be so terrible to affect Binks in such a way? The guilt had been eating away at him for years so strongly that he made himself believe it never happened. That's why he pretended to be in the past, because he desperately wanted to return to it and do things differently.

Binks took a deep breath. He was still shaking though much less violently. "There were twelve little boys, his children, Luke's children." It was the price to pay, other than the dangerous missions, for his past betrayal with Han. "Twelve little clones, little boys really, living beings," Binks stared at the vial once more, unable to bring himself to look at Delia. "Number three, number seven and number ten survived, all the others died. Number three was enhanced to age rapidly. Very quickly he went from a baby, to a fully grown man. We were studying genetics, trying to make the perfect Rocket agent. We failed."

Delia's tears continued to escape her in absolute silence. She couldn't stop them if she tried, though she didn't make a sound. She looked at Giovanni. He met her eyes for a moment then looked away. She looked back at Binks waiting for him to gather the strength and will to continue.

"I was testing number three's ability to absorb the knowledge pushed into him through a hypnotic trance," Binks revealed. "He was supposed to have enough of a basic education to be able to interact with normal humans. He was generally quiet, but responded well enough when spoken to. Because Fuji wanted to revive his daughter, he was not opposed to the human experiments, as his goal involved a human. We thought that if number three was exposed to contact with normal humans for long enough, he would start to act more natural."

Delia watched as Binks' face became contorted with terrible regret.

"It was my fault!" Binks cried, "It was my fault that they died, it was my fault that she lost them. It was my fault that they suffered!" He screamed until his voice gave out. "I'm sorry, little sister, I'm sorry," he breathlessly sobbed. "My mother passed away when I was young. She had a frail body that she knew would eventually give out. Time passed and my father got married again. His new wife was a kind lady and though she was not a replacement for my mother, I cared about her as a mother. I know she cared for me as a son too. They had a baby girl, Laiki, my little sister. I was visiting them when Laiki was still a child. I took number three with me and arrived when Laiki was still in school. That day, that terrible day, number three lost his sanity. It happened very quickly and I didn't understand why. Later, I realized that the formula used to advance his growth made him react strangely to certain spices. Mother loved to cook and try new recipes."

Delia knew that the story had to have a truly awful ending. Her face was wet with tears and her throat felt dry. She couldn't speak even if she tried.

"It was all a random coincidence, a miscalculation. Who could have guessed?" Binks stared at the vial in his hand once more. "He killed them; I was unable to stop him. He cast me aside. No matter how desperately I tried, I wasn't strong enough. He had inhuman strength, like a pokemon with illegal power ups, one that wouldn't die so easily. Whenever I attacked him, he threw me aside and went after my parents. He recognized me, but they were unfamiliar so they were his primary target. Laiki didn't see it; she didn't see her parents being ripped to shreds piece by piece by a mad man, while her helpless brother was simply thrown around like the worthless creature he was."

Delia's heart ached with each revelation.

"My parents begged me to run away." The nightmarish images would forever haunt Binks. "They were being ripped apart, there was blood everywhere. I can't remember much else. I reported what happened to headquarters and I guess they must have covered it up. I lied to her; I lied to my little sister. I told her our parents had a car accident while she was in school. As her closest living relative, since she was still a child, her custody was mine. I took her away from Cherrygrove City. I didn't want her to hear the rumors and learn of the terrible truth. I didn't want her to know it was all my fault."

Binks continued, "I know Laiki has made friends in Team Rocket. I know a lot of things; I know more than anyone may guess. I know there is a boy whom Laiki things of as her younger brother. It took me a while, but I figured out who he is. There were twelve little boys and only three survived. Number three was a killer, but number seven wasn't bad. The boy has no recollection of his childhood because he has no childhood. He was kept safely in his tank for a long time. He was let out eventually, without the modifications that doomed number three. I wanted to understand what went wrong; I wanted to revive my parents just like Fuji wanted to revive his daughter."

"Something unexpected happened," Binks revealed, "number seven was perfectly normal. In every sense, he was human and I couldn't deny it. Everything came crashing down and I couldn't toy with lives anymore. He made me realize it, that little boy saved what was left of my corrupted soul. Because of that little boy, I still have just enough humanity left in me to suffer for my sins."

Binks continued his confession, "I was unable to take care of number seven so he was taken away. Luke's child, who had become my little nephew, he was given to his father and raised to be a loyal Rocket. He's still out there, isn't he? He's still human, he can't be anything else. I'm not being completely honest, though. There is a mistake, but it can be corrected. He's sick you see. He is strong, a normal person could be as strong and agile as him, no doubt about it, but they would have to work for it. They would have to work hard and not neglect their training."

"Comet..." Delia's voice came out as a whisper. She knew her conclusion was correct, even if she desperately wished to be wrong.

"I was afraid," Binks cried. "I saw him in my dreams and her too. I saw what Aayla became, wild and difficult to reach. I saw what number three became, a vicious killer. I infected number seven with a virus. It is not contagious unless one receives his blood into one's own blood vessels. Of course, his medical profile, his secret medical profile, specifies this. Touching his blood is not even enough; one would have to receive a sufficient sample injected. I made sure Laiki knew. A seemingly healthy young man, O negative no less, regardless of what kind of emergency ever happened, I made sure she knew not to ask to use his blood."

"The virus would slowly kill number seven. That way if he went crazy and escaped, he would die young. He wouldn't have time to become an urban legend like number three did. All those unsolved murder mysteries attributed to the Bloody Killer; they're probably all really his doing. The police keeps them as unresolved cold cases. Not many truly believe that terrible being to be anything more than an urban legend. I didn't want another being like number three. But you know what?" Binks suddenly laughed at the irony, "number seven is normal, sane, loyal and competent. Certain tests were included along with his routine medical examinations. He's human, completely human, sane and sentient, even if he has no idea where he came from."

Binks stood from the couch and walked to his laboratory area. "This will remove the unnecessary safeguard I placed upon him." He transferred the contents of the little vial to a needle and put the needle inside a plastic bag. He held the edge of the bag with his bony fingers as he returned to the living room area. "Take it; give him the opportunity to live a long healthy life. As the human he is, he deserves that much." He held the bag in front of Giovanni for him to take.

Giovanni took the antidote and stared at it. That cure was for Comet, the cure for the virus affecting pokemon was a different topic entirely. Afflicted with guilt, Binks confessed it all at once. "You lied about this too, to me and to Luke. Comet wasn't destined to die because his body would internally degenerate with the passing of time. It was because you made it so." 

Giovanni, Luke and Laiki were aware of Comet's origin, though Comet himself had no idea. When he was taken out of his tank, he was educated and raised as a Rocket. When he questioned his origins, Luke gave him nothing but excuses. Giovanni wondered if Ash had asked about his father with the same curiosity and necessity to know that he had heard Comet ask Luke about his mother. He had no mother. Giovanni wondered if maybe Ash was better off without a father.

Binks lowered his head, "I'm sorry," he sobbed with tears streaming down his face. "I'm so sorry... Please go, please heal him. It hasn't happened yet, right? He's still alive, isn't he? He's still well, he must be. Number seven... Comet. Go, go now, I will be fine on my own. I must rest, I must think. The time will soon come and I must fulfill Aayla's wish. I must find redemption for her daughter. What season is it? Please tell me this much, what season?"

Silence invaded the area after Binks' question as if those present were too absorbed in their own thoughts to reply. "Fall is starting," Giovanni finally voiced. He looked at Delia as she sat shaking. Binks went back to the lab followed by Raticate, muttering random things under his breath. "Delia..." the name was barely audible. Her tears had not ceased, he thought about hugging her, but what consolation could she gain from him? Then his phone insistently demanded his attention. He ignored it at first, then finally gave in and looked at the screen. Luke was calling; he felt he needed to answer that call. "Is so-"

Before Giovanni could ask if there was something wrong, Luke's panicked voice confirmed that there was. "Dude, Giovanni, help! He's like dying, my son is like dying, you know? He was like burning up with a fever and now he's like suddenly like totally cold, man! Help please, like save him. You're like the leader, you like make everything like okay, do something, man! I like totally beg you to like save him, please!" 

In the background Giovanni could hear other voices, besides Luke. There seemed to be a woman there, or two women, one apparently much more panicked than the other. "Where are you?"

The feeling of trouble in the air and the urgency in Giovanni's voice snapped Delia out of her daze. She couldn't hear Luke's voice coming from his cell phone, but she knew whatever was happening was bad. "Comet's room," Luke choked on his words as if his very life was being drained away and running out.

"I have the cure, I'll be there in a moment," Giovanni didn't wait for a reply before leaving with Delia following him. There was no time to question Binks' cure. The unusual results of Comet's medical tests were due to the virus Binks gave him rather than his condition as a clone as most had thought. He would just have to be examined later to see if he was truly healed. For the time being, gambling everything on the antidote in the needle was the only hope. 

Giovanni left Binks' living area, rushing to the elevator followed by Delia. They went up suffocated by the tense atmosphere. They didn't say anything, they couldn't. They didn't even look at each other. Things had seemingly improved for a while, then all of this came out. Giovanni himself couldn't explain why he allowed Delia to know. He didn't understand his own inaction in hiding this from her. 

The elevator opened and Giovanni hurried down the seemingly endless halls of the Viridian Rocket headquarters. He arrived at the area corresponding to the in-base living quarters. All the doors were numbered in rows that appeared to stretch out endlessly. Delia didn't know where they were going and for what purpose, but it was obviously urgent and probably tragic.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 86: Give Me Bonds

At the Viridian rocket base... "He's dead!" Laiki wailed at the top of her lungs, so loudly that Giovanni and Delia clearly heard her as they ran down the hall towards Comet's room. Laiki had seen her fair share of deaths, mostly pokemon and a few humans. Though she did her best to save them, there were times when her medical help was too little too late. She never panicked like that; she just shook her head and sent the victims away to be turned to ashes. This was different, she had no connection with any of those deceased beings, Comet was like a brother to her.

"Clear!" Before the nurse could panic further, Pixel pushed her away. She released Peachy from her pokeball, the Pikachu landing on Comet's still form. "Thunderbolt him back to life!"

"Pikachu!" The room was filled with electricity, some of it catching the two young women and Luke. He was panicking on the phone, despite Giovanni having already hung up.

Comet's blue eyes opened suddenly, he was only without a heartbeat for a few seconds. The pain of the shock woke him from his unconscious state as his heart started to beat again.

"I told you he's not dead," Pixel firmly insisted, "people don't die instantly when their heart stops beating. You can still revive them in the next few seconds, I'm not in the medical field and even I know that."

Laiki was beyond the point of responding to words. Her piled up stress had pushed her to a nervous breakdown. It didn't help that she was convinced that Comet would inevitably die due to being a clone.

Comet began to close his eyes, the tiredness evident in them. "Stay awake!" Pixel ordered, she was clearly the only one with a grasp on her reasoning at the moment. Laiki was choking on her sobs and Luke was begging for help on a cell phone that wasn't transmitting his voice to anyone anymore. "If you fall asleep, Peachy will shock you and make it painful."

"Ka! Chu!" Peachy was ready to follow the plan if needed.

Giovanni and Delia suddenly entered the room. Giovanni took the needle from the bag, clearly Laiki was in no conditions to apply it properly, but he had no experience. "We need to get someone to-"

"I'll do it," Delia interrupted, taking the needle. "I've done this before with pokemon," she took Comet's arm, searching for the proper place to inject the antidote and did so. She waited for what felt like an eternity looking into Comet's unfocused blue eyes.

Comet blinked; his eyes gaining focus. He muttered something too quiet to be perceived. He took a deep breath feeling the contradiction of hot and cold he had been feeling leaving his body. The lifeless exhaustion melted into normal tiredness and he felt much more alert. "I'm okay now..." He had no way to know, but whatever medicine they gave him was certainly making him feel much better fast. His vision was focused enough to see normally, he noticed Delia's tearful face and her slightly red eyes. Giovanni looked like he had a multitude of thoughts running through his head, none of them pleasant judging by his expression. He could hear his father's voice behind them, mixed with Laiki's sobs while Pixel tried to calm them down. He smiled a brilliant smile, looking like his usual carefree self.

Delia's breath caught in her throat and she felt in her heart that he really would be alright. "You can rest now, you're cured," she brushed his red hair gently with her hand in a motherly fashion. She thought she heard him mutter a sleepy thanks before he closed his eyes again, his chest moving with the rhythm of his steady breathing.

Delia and Giovanni exited the room, leaving Comet with Luke, Pixel and Laiki. They walked down the hall to find a quiet place to talk. They both knew they had a lot to discuss and it could not be left for later.

xoxox xox xoxox

It was night time in Pallet Town, but Misty knew Ash wouldn't mind. She exited the yellow taxi in front of the Pallet House and paid the driver. She approached the house, but before she could call, Charla opened the door for her. The fire pokemon had long chocolate colored waves cascading from her head. Misty blinked, "hello," she saw several of Ash's pokemon out of their pokeballs around the house, some wearing wigs.

Ash thought he heard a car outside and went to see what that was about. He saw Misty, his face immediately brightening, despite his racing thoughts. "Misty, you're here!" He didn't want to throw his stress at her, but he had been wishing to see her.

They embraced each other in a tight hug before their lips met, as if they had not seen each other in years. They were reassuring to each other in many ways. After they parted, Misty explained, "my sisters and their chick flicks were driving me insane. I had to get out of there, Brock seems to be enjoying it though."

"Good for him," Ash smiled, "do you think he finally found a steady relationship?"

"I hope so, I would be upset if he ended up heartbroken after he's been spoiling Lily so much," Misty sighed, "I just hope he learns to tone it down a little."

"That's Brock, he always tries so hard," Ash laughed. He almost fell into the familiarity of being with Misty, but it wasn't long before his stubborn worried thoughts returned.

"If I didn't see your own hair peeking out from under this wig I would think you bleached it," Misty adjusted the blond wig on Ash's head, if only to make sure beyond a doubt that it was indeed a wig. "Why are you wearing that?" As she asked, Pikachu walked by in the background and she added, "why does Pikachu look like Elvis Presley?"

"It was pretty random actually," Ash and Misty sat down at the living room, his face returning to a smile as they talked. "Skye, Gary's helper, thought I was being stalked by fan girls. He brought over this collection of wigs he borrowed from Professor Oak to help me disguise myself. The pokemon started playing with some of the wigs too."

Misty couldn't help it but to laugh at the revelation. Her voice was clear and refreshing to Ash. Yet he couldn't help it but to feel guilty because she didn't know the truth. What would she say? Even if he wasn't supposed to tell her, he had to.

"What's wrong?" Misty's laughter faded and she caught on to the turmoil in Ash's eyes. "You know you can tell me anything."

Ash nodded and took a deep breath, his face serious, "what if I told you that I'm more... involved in the..." he paused, the word feeling somewhat odd and coming out as a whisper, "mafia, than I thought?"

"What do you mean?" Misty couldn't imagine how Ash could be more closely linked to them than her with her sisters' situation. She immediately started to wonder if Ash was in some kind of trouble.

He read the worry in her face and shook his head, trying to clear it and find the way to phrase things. "I'm not in trouble, this isn't even something recent. It's something that's been true for as long as I've been alive, longer even. I just recently found out, mom told me."

Misty immediately recalled the events that happened at Lando's mansion and an infinity of theories floated in her head about Delia, Giovanni, Ash and the mafia. She imagine sweet Delia being kidnapped, she imagined a battle between Giovanni and someone from the mafia. It all played out in seconds in her mind like in the cheesy movies her sisters had been watching. Another theory was about a young hero who falls in love with a lady, which lands the lady in the middle of a love triangle. She makes her choice, though the man who was not chosen still loved her. Then one day a terrible villain steals the life of her beloved and the other man, who had sincerely tried to save his own rival for her sake, can do nothing more than console her. Pushing the theories away along with the images of a bittersweet embrace in a sunset cliff near the ocean, she breathed, "you know you can tell me. You don't need to hide anything from me, I'm here for you."

"I know," Ash felt comforted and suddenly, the idea of keeping everything a secret from Misty was unthinkable. "Everything makes sense now. Mewtwo's enemy, the leader of Team Rocket, his resemblance to Giovanni, it was all true."

Misty's eyes went wide as she remembered their conversation with Brock after the tournament at Viridian City. Brock had been the first to point out how similar the Viridian gym leader was to the Rocket boss. "Than Giovanni is Team Rocket's leader? He's playing both sides so easily." Kenobi's involvement in the mafia made a lot more sense. They were trying to hide Giovanni's identity so that he could continue the good gym leader act. "The good gym leader is the mafia lord, it's so ironic, and yet, I wonder why no one can see it." As the pieces fell into place with the force of the revelation, the idea went from unthinkable to obvious.

"He has a lot of influence, I guess," Ash's confusion clouded him again. He honestly didn't know how to face Giovanni, but it had to be done.

"I bet the police knows, but Team Rocket is too powerful so they have to let him be," Misty reasoned, then the image of sweet Delia, kind, motherly, gentle Delia, entered her mind. "My goodness, Ash, your mom."

"She knows more about Team Rocket than I ever would have guessed. She knows their history from the very beginning," Ash looked into his fiance's eyes, "she was there, Misty, she was there from the start, ever since Team Rocket was a street gang. She was... she joined..."

Misty took in a big deep breath as if the extra oxygen was needed for her brain to continue functioning with more simultaneous thoughts than what a normal person should have. 

"Have you heard about the epidemic from years ago? I've heard stories about it, but it was hard to imagine. She saw it all, the Tempest of the past was the cause and Team Rocket ended up finding the solution. That just makes me believe it even more, that Team Rocket wasn't all that bad, it couldn't have been. Mom was there and... and my father, Giovanni, he had to be different. Maybe there's some of his past self still left," Ash fell silent as he observed Misty's face.

The red haired young woman paled, it wasn't until that moment that Ash had directly pointed out that Giovanni was his father. He wasn't part of a triangle as they had initially thought. "All these years..." her voice came out as a quiet whisper, but there was some edge to it.

"He didn't know," Ash was quick to reveal. "Mom broke up with him. She left to raise me in peace. She never told him she was pregnant, he didn't know about me until recently."

"She was protecting you," Misty concluded, "she wanted to keep you safe, she must have seen what Team Rocket was turning into, she must have..." Overcome by emotion, Misty felt her eyes water. "It must have been so hard."

The couple held on to each other tightly in a warm embrace. "They were in love, I know they were. I think they are again, I'm pretty sure they are. I don't understand it really; they're so different, even if I barely know him. It's... it's strangely comforting, to know they care about each other, to know they can care; to know they love each other." Ash held on to Misty and closed his eyes, burying his face on her shoulder as she gently caressed his hair. The blond wig had fallen off at some point neither cared to notice and sat on the couch next to Ash. 

"It's all so big, so unexpected..." Misty whispered, "at least you know and there is hope. Maybe everything has a reason," after seeing what Team Rocket had done over the years, Misty had trouble believing her own words. She wondered what else happened that she didn't know. She feared for Ash and for Delia, she didn't want them to get hurt. Then Ash's words rung out in her head with such certainty, ' they love each other,' his mother must have assured him no doubt, for Ash to be so convince, he must have seen the truth in her. There was a lot Misty didn't understand and she knew it must be troubling Ash terribly.

"We were at Giovanni's house when mom told me," Ash confessed, his voice slightly muffled by the closeness to Misty. "I ran away, I left a note saying I had to think. Mom called me as soon as she found out; I worried her I'm sure. I insisted that I was okay, that I was not angry at my father. I tried to reassure her and convinced her to give me some time to think. I didn't know how to tell you, I'm really glad you came."

"It's going to be okay, things will work out," Misty quietly assured, though she couldn't know for sure. "I'm here for you." What could she do? She couldn't change the past, plus it was a past that should not be changed. If Delia had loved Giovanni and Ash was the result of that, Misty could only be thankful. If they had rediscovered those feelings, how could they stay apart? If Delia found it in her heart to welcome Giovanni it was her choice, her judgment, but would she be hurt because of it? Would Ash be hurt?

"I wonder if he hates me," Ash looked into Misty's eyes; the fear in his eyes shocked her. He had always been brave and determined, always willing to face anything. "I ran away leaving behind nothing but a note, just like mom left him with a letter. Maybe the reason why mom didn't insist in coming here was because she needed to stay with him. What if he hates me? What if he thinks I hate him? It's ironic really," Ash laughed bitterly, the fear still present in his eyes. "I've always secretly wanted a father, but accepted not having one. Then when Giovanni came into the picture, I wondered if it was similar to having a father. I wanted that with him. I wanted to get to know him, to have the kind of father-son experience I never knew. I was happy, he wasn't replacing anyone, there was no one to replace. He was just filling a hole I never fully realized was there. Then I found out he really is my father and instead of being happy, I'm so confused and so afraid." Ash was almost trembling, which made Misty hug him tighter, "I don't know how to face him, I don't know what to say, I'm afraid I'll get caught in the moment and say something terrible. I'm afraid I'll anger him, I'm afraid I'll hurt him, I'm afraid he'll give up on mom and me, I'm afraid he'll give up on mom because of me. She already gave him up once for my sake, I know it hurt her to leave to raise me. They have a second chance to be together, I have a chance to have a father, but Team Rocket is in the middle of everything and... and..."

"Shh... don't say anymore," Misty softly placed her finger upon his lips, then kissed him gently and wiped away the moist from his face that he didn't even notice was there. "He can't hate you. How could he possibly? Maybe he's worried too. Maybe he's wondering what you'll think of him, but I'm sure he can't hate you. If your mom can still care about him, then no matter what he's done over the years with Team Rocket, there's no way he could hate his own son."

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Viridian City gym, Giovanni and Delia were in one of the rooms. The door was locked and no one would interrupt them. The conversation would not be easy and there was no way to make it so. Delia had taken a moment to wash her face and try to calm down. She splashed cold water on her face, then looked up from the sink to the bathroom mirror. Her face made it obvious how much she had cried. She took a soft towel and gently dried her face. 

Taking a deep breath, she headed out of the bathroom and into the connecting room. Giovanni was there, sitting on an expensive couch that she didn't care to admire. Her eyes were locked on his, but after a second he looked away. She approached and sat down at his side, searching for his eyes with hers. He was lost in thought and didn't breathe a word. With a deep sigh, Delia began, "what happened to Aayla's daughter?"

The conversation was barely starting and it was already taking a dark path. "She's dead. I was informed she passed away a few hours ago." He had received the call when he was on his way back to the mansion.

"How?" Delia kept her question simple; she feared that her voice would turn increasingly shaky if she spoke too much.

"Poisona stole her blood, the virus, and spread it. By the time we took her into custody it was too late. She was alive, just barely. We tried to keep her alive, but it wasn't enough. She was in a coma, clinging to life by a thread without most of her blood. Her body wouldn't accept normal blood for long. The doctors struggled to keep her alive but couldn't. She needed her own blood, but that was impossible to recover. It had been put in food, human food. Countless people consumed it and acquired the virus. They're out there, they don't know it, but to pokemon they are like poison. The virus was stretched thin and not very effective at first, but it grew, it's becoming unstoppable. I've managed to keep the base mostly clean, but it wasn't Team Rocket that Poisona was aiming for. She aimed for Kanto, for those who didn't expect it. Many of the nurse Joys are suspected to be infected, killing while they try to heal," after the confession was finished, Giovanni once again fell silent. His voice was paused with force neutrality. His expression hid discomfort and his eyes reflected thought.

Delia took in all the information. She had felt so much, so intensely, that she didn't know what to feel anymore. "What happened to the third survivor?" She referred to the three clones, no, the three boys, who had survived such terrible trials years ago. One of them was an urban legend, the Bloody Killer. The other one was a loyal Rocket, Comet. The third was still a mystery to Delia. She remembered Binks mentioning him, calling him number ten.

Giovanni didn't reply right away, he wasn't sure what Delia meant by her question, "survivor?" He finally inquired, his gaze still lost to hers.

"Comet's brother," Delia clarified, though she didn't know if she should call him that. Comet was different, he had no modifications. When they met as she ventured into the Viridian gym, she didn't see anything that could indicate he was different from a normal person. Regardless of his origins, he was indeed human. She remembered wondering about who was Comet's mother. She remembered wondering if she still lived. A cold chill went down her spine. She left the topic of number ten on hold and asked, "what does Comet think about his mother?"

Giovanni had to pause for a moment before replying, "he doesn't know he never had one." The very mention of Comet's name brought that image to mind. The memory of the young boy asking his father questions that Luke, out of mercy, didn't want to answer. Then the memory would turn into a figment of his imagination and mold into something else. The boy's hair was no longer red, it was black. The one he was asking was someone else and the question was about his father. The shadowy figure became clearer, he was asking Delia. Giovanni could feel the urgency in the boy's voice. Then the boy turned around, expression saddened, he was Ash. "He must have assumed she died. He must have assumed Luke was too sad to speak of her." Did Ash assume his father was dead in the past? Did he believe Delia had locked away his memories in sorrow?

Delia struggled to find her voice before finally speaking, "he needs to know. I know it sounds cruel, but he needs to know. He has the right to know. When things calm down, I'll talk to Luke." When things calm down, later, not now, it all felt too familiar. "No, after we're done talking, I'm talking to Luke. The more he waits, it'll just get worse. I'm not letting him continue making my mistakes. Every person deserves to know where they came from. I believe that not knowing hurts more than the truth. No one deserves such uncertainty." Determined, she took a deep breath and returned to their previous topic. "Tell me about the third survivor please."

"Number ten was here," Giovanni could feel Delia's upset eyes on him at the mention of a number. He knew she could never consider those experiments to be experiments and nothing more. After Comet became a Rocket, he was another agent and a competent one at that. Giovanni had all but forgotten his origins. Luke cared about him so much; he cared as a true father would. Not that Giovanni felt he could know. He didn't have a father, just a mother who saw him as a hindrance more often then not, as far as he could remember from his late childhood and teen years. He couldn't speak from experience either. His thoughts kept going back to Ash over and over.

"What happened to him?" Delia prompted Giovanni to continue after a long silence passed.

Giovanni tried to focus on the present instead of on his own thoughts. He didn't know what was wrong with him. He had done so much. He wasn't bothered by such things before. Why did his son's apparent rejection, though Delia had tried to excuse it, bother him so much? Why couldn't he get Ash out of his head? Why couldn't he focus like he used to? "I don't know where he is," he finally answered Delia's question. "He disappeared one day, no one knows how. There were suspects but..." he paused as if remembering a detail, his face contorting with anger.

"What is it?" Delia insisted that he voiced his thoughts.

"Iblis," the name was spoken with absolute hatred. "Looking back on it, the pattern fits. The so called suspects were set up by her. She must have stolen number... the other survivor. They're not like Comet. Comet wasn't altered. The others are different. They were altered; they're inhumanly strong, but also traitorous and unstable. The third survivor was in a coma, he woke up on occasion but he was too aggressive to let him go anywhere. He barely responded to words. It was strange, it was as if everything terrified him and the only thing he knew how to do was destroy it. Anything that moved or made a sound, he wanted to destroy it, anything that lived, he wanted to kill it. He's out there, it's the only explanation. He's out there."

Delia couldn't imagine such a miserable being ever existed, one that was created from Luke's DNA as the base. Comet was the only one who was spared, the only one who received a chance to live as a human. Was the third survivor going to become another Bloody Killer? Delia became pale as she remembered a conversation she had with Ash. He had told her about how he and his friends heard a horror story about a serial killer, as they passed through a town in Johto. They had camped out that night and stayed up late telling horror stories, trying to see who was the bravest. 

Delia thought it was all fiction. It was too terrible to be real. As Ash repeated some of the stories she even laughed at how exaggerated they sounded. Who would believe that? It had to be something purposely made to frighten people, not reality. The first survivor became a legend. The Bloody Killer was out there and possibly another one, but that other one could be being controlled by Iblis.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 87: Give Me Reassurance

At the Pallet House, the atmosphere had quieted. The occasional murmurs and playful laughter had faded as the pokemon gathered to listen to Ash. 

"Life has a lot of twists and turns, doesn't it?" Misty voiced softly. She and Ash were still close together, as if they had melted into one.

"Yeah, it's pretty crazy," Ash breathed a little easier after letting out his bottled up confusion. "If a few years ago someone told me we would be so involved with the mafia, there's no way I would believe them. Maybe things really will work out," he tried to be optimistic.

"We'll make things work out," Misty tried to stay positive as well. This time the situation was far more complicated than a battle against an opposing force. This time, it all blended together and such different people needed to coexist. 

Ash took his cell phone, which was all but forgotten on his belt and look at it with indecision. He opened it and looked at the contact list, pausing on his mother's new number.

"Call, if it will make you feel better, call her, she won't mind," Misty encouraged.

Ash nodded, then went back to staring at his cell phone. "I was thinking about sending him a message, a voice mail through mom's phone. Am I a coward?"

"Not at all," Misty soothed, "you can talk face to face when you're ready.

Ash pressed the button to bring up the options and chose to record a voice mail. "Hi mom, it's me Ash... but you already know that from the number and because you're hearing me," he stopped, he didn't mean to ramble. He deleted the recording and tried again. He took a deep breath and began, "mom, could you let dad listen to this message?" Dad, the word felt so foreign. It was as if he was speaking in an unknown language he was anything but fluent in, unsure of what his words meant. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry for running off, I hope that didn't disappoint you too much. I just needed some time to think, but I want to talk to you in person soon." Ash summoned all his courage, this was more difficult than any other challenge he had ever faced. "I'll return tomorrow evening, I promise." That was the entirety of the message. He sent it before he changed his mind and watched the confirmation on the screen.

Misty gave him a reassuring smile, which made Ash smile back. He gave himself some extra time to think, giving his parents some time as well. He made a promise so he wouldn't run away again, to keep his will strong.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Viridian gym, though Delia tried to stop it from happening, as she sat there alone with Giovanni, she saw it in her mind. She saw the dangers that were more than just urban legends. She pushed the images away and told her imagination to keep quiet. She enjoyed horror movies, though more so about mysteries and ghosts and not about gore. The reason for that was that it amused her how far the imagination would go; she didn't believe any of it. 

To think that such events could be real sounded absurd, but it wasn't, not as long as he was out there. It was sad, that killer never decided to be a murderer, he never decided anything. He was turned into a being driven by instinct, it was as if his will had been stolen from him and he was condemn to suffer. "Look at me," she finally spoke.

Giovanni noticed then that he had been indeed avoiding her gaze. He expected to see her upset, angry and resentful, maybe even horrified and afraid. When he looked into her eyes, he found nothing but endless understanding and it confused him. "Delia..." her name escaped him as nothing but a whisper.

"You don't have to look away from me. You can tell me everything; you can tell me your mistakes. I won't hate you for it, just please, don't keep it all bottled up. Please, allow me to try to make it better," she hugged him tightly with full trust.

He returned the embrace, "you're too forgiving." He honestly expected her to at least scold him. She had scolded him for less in the past, though she was always forgiving in the end. She was always willing to put their differences aside and let things go after she spoke her disapproval. This time was different and he didn't know what made her react that way, as if she could see he simply didn't have the energy to argue. Did he look that exhausted, that troubled?

"I love you," her voice was so sweet and tender; he had to stare at her for a moment, taking in every detail of her expression. Supporting, loving, understanding, sincere, beautiful in so many ways.

"I love you too," their lips met, slowly, sweetly, gently at first. Then with a turmoil of emotion, their bodies locked in a tight embrace. For a moment, all was serenity amidst the chaos. 

The moment was interrupted by the sound of a cell phone receiving a message. Though it was different from the insistent sound of an incoming call, Delia's mind went to Ash and she slowly pulled away. "Let me see if that's Ash," she examined the little cell phone's screen to find that it was indeed Ash sending the message, it was a voice mail.

xoxox xox xoxox

Hours passed and the night gave way to morning. The day promised to be eventful. There were several enemies still on the loose that could make a move at any moment. Then, in the evening, Ash would return to meet his parents at the mansion. Giovanni wasn't sure what he would say to Ash, but had a feeling that he would find out soon enough. He expected Ash to have thought of his questions by then, he had a lot of things to answer. 

Though Delia didn't elaborate too much upon it, she said enough, "let's show Ash the better side of Team Rocket." She didn't want more tension and distance to be created. She certainly didn't want true anger to emerge.

It wasn't until that morning when Delia went through with her determination to speak to Luke. She smiled at Giovanni as cheerful as she could manage without being forceful of her expression, "I'll take care of giving Luke some advice." She set her mind on optimism and the thought that things were on their way to improve. The only unresolved aspect that still plagued her mind was the virus. As for Iblis and the clones, or as she called them, the survivors, she believed it was within Team Rocket's grasp to solve those problems if they really tried. It was about time Team Rocket stopped turning away and took responsibility.

While Delia was gone, Giovanni occupied himself with some Team Rocket work. After a while, he found he couldn't concentrate and his mind wandered into the battle field. He couldn't precise why, but that moment during the tournament at the Viridian Stadium, when his eyes met Ash's, resurfaced in his memories. He remembered seeing how Ash guided his pokemon; he remembered the trust between them that somehow seemed to amplify their power. He wanted to battle Ash and wondered if Ash wanted to battle him too. He knew it would happen one way or another, perhaps that particular destiny had already been decided the second their eyes met. He couldn't help it but to anticipate it and prepare his pokemon. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Delia and Luke had found a quiet spot in one of the gym's above ground conference rooms. Luke had gone on and on about his relief that Comet was healed. "So he's like back in training, you know? He like took like a lot of sick days and like wasted his break, you know? Comet like never really had like trouble staying in shape so I like think he'll do fine. He like got a lot of medical tests, you know? They say he's like perfectly healthy, man! I'm like so relieved, dudette."

Delia smiled sincerely, "that's wonderful, I'm so happy Comet is alright. Shouldn't he take some time to rest though?"

"Nah, don't like worry," Luke sounded sure of it, "everything's okay now, you know? It's all like good, like more good things will like come, I'm like sure, you know? We have to like totally stay positive, dudette."

"Yes, you're right, we really need to stay positive," Delia agreed then paused. She didn't know how to address the subject and Luke was giving her a confused and curious look. "The truth," she finally began, "have you considered telling him the truth?"

Luke was speechless for a moment. He stared at Delia, at the wall behind her, at the table, at his fidgeting gloved hands, then back at Delia. "Like why?"

"Because if you don't, he'll always have doubts," Delia pleaded. She expected convincing Luke would be difficult. Furthermore, some sort of proof might be needed or Comet might have even bigger doubts. She wouldn't run off to tell him herself, that was something his father had to do. "Doubts are painful; you should tell him the truth. The sooner you tell him, the better, right away if possible."

"Alright, I'll like totally tell him, you know?" Luke nodded with determination and maintained a smile.

"What..." Delia began to ask, her voice fading into nothing. She opened and closed her mouth like a Magikarp, eyes wide with questions.

Luke's smile never faltered, "I like trust you, you know? If you like say it's like best to tell him the truth, then I'll like tell him the truth, you know?"

"You trust me that much," Delia voiced softly, her surprise evident.

"Like totally!" Luke's smile grew, "you have like never given me bad advice, you know? I like totally trust you, dudette. I'll like totally like tell him right away, man!" With those words spoken, Luke got up and exited the conference room.

With her shock still frozen in her face, Delia bolted from her seat to see Luke jogging down the hall and disappearing past a corner. Unable to find her voice, she could do nothing more than to run after him. This was Luke, he talked funny, he wrote funny, he could be a little impulsive. Delia called out, "stop the elevator!" And dashed into the enclosed space where Luke was.

"Dudette, are you like okay?" Luke seemed surprise that she would run after him after he had promptly left to do what she suggested. Wasn't this what he was supposed to do?

Delia took a deep breath and nodded, "you need to phrase it properly." This was Luke, cheerful carefree Luke, but he wouldn't underestimate the consequences, would he? 

"You like don't need to like worry, you know? Giovanni like gets annoyed when I like write like this, you know? But he like doesn't like mind like so much when I like talk like this, you know? Comet like understands, you know?" Once again, Luke's smile never faltered through his whole explanation as the elevator carried them below ground.

"I'm not talking about grammar, or verbal grammar," Delia tried to explain herself, wondering how it was possible that Comet didn't pick that up. Maybe Giovanni was so annoyed by Luke's reports that he made sure someone taught Comet how to speak and write with more clarity. They exited the elevator and walked towards a... subway? The underground train was black with red Rs on its sides. Its surface was polished and glossy as it sat elegantly on silver rails. 

Rockets of various ranks came in and out of the train Luke was heading towards. Amazed by the sight, Delia followed him wordlessly. It was as if Team Rocket was a whole different society with its vast underground city. She knew about it, but seeing it was different, she never tried exploring this far before. Some of the Rockets looked at her curiously, recognizing her as the woman whom their boss was dating, but no one dared to say anything to her.

Some seats were coincidentally free right ahead as they walked through the wagon. They sat down and Delia took in the atmosphere. Some Rockets looked energetic and others a little tired, faces still flustered from their training sessions. Some had damp hair as if they had been swimming or had recently taken a shower. Some carried bags, varying in size.

The automatic train stopped on several occasions with a recorded voice reminding the passengers of their location. Upon hearing the announcement of "Aquatic Circuit XL" Luke got out of the train along with Delia.

She breathed deeply as she followed him through the training facilities. "I'll leave you to talk to Comet in private, just be tactful." Luke nodded and Delia's worries subsided, "I know you'll do fine. Comet will appreciate it, I'm sure of it."

Luke was about to reply, but he was interrupted by Laiki's loud squeal of "Delia!" The blond girl was wearing a rather small green bikini that matched her eyes. She walked with two men, one at each side, their arms linked with hers. Their faces hinted that they were still new to Team Rocket, as their surroundings still had them in awe. Furthermore, they were surprised by the casual tone Laiki used to refer to Lady Roketto. "Welcome to paradise!" She let go of her conquests and rushed towards Delia. "Have you come to partake in the awesome activity of man watching? If you have, I won't tell the boss, I promise!"

"Actually," Delia shifted somewhat embarrassed, "I just walked over here with Luke because we were talking. Now he has to go talk to Comet." She had been so focused on the situation with Luke and Comet, that she didn't really took notice of the multitude of people in swimsuits of varied sizes and styles all around her. 

"Dudette, do you like know where he is?" Luke inquired naturally. He grew up as a beach loving surfer; there was little he had not already seen. The atmosphere all around them felt very natural and not at all awkward to him.

"He's getting ready for the race, it should be fun. Let's go watch from up there!" Laiki excitedly pointed at a balcony above their heads, stretching out from the wall above the entrance.

"That sounds fun," Delia automatically agreed, though she was honestly curious about the race Laiki mentioned. The area identified as Aquatic Circuit XL was a vast tunnel that stretched out left and right, with people coming and going walking along the pool. 

From that level, Delia could see a pair of long pools side by side, with some space between them. They must be extremely deep underground, since the ceiling was so tall and Giovanni wouldn't risk the facilities being discovered. The structure was made of silvery metal, it was the same strong seismic proof enforced material used in other areas of the headquarters. The large square lamps on the ceiling would at first glance appear to be a sort of sunroof in a very sunny day, but they were artificial lights. 

Delia, Luke, Laiki and her two admirers used an elevator to go up to the balcony. Laiki had not stopped talking the whole way there. "So I told Pixel, you have to come and see Comet race, he's really good at it. Do you know what she told me? She said she had some studying to do. I mean come on, at this rate they'll never get together if she keeps picking codes over him, not that his fan girls would mind. Either way, Comet doesn't like clingy girls. He likes a girl who picks violent video games over romance movies and mystery meat pizza from the cafeteria over a candlelit dinner." Not to mention she would probably add chocolate syrup to it, because Pixel would add chocolate syrup to anything.

Laiki continued after pausing to take in a deep breath, "speaking of which, I never thought he'd find one to suit his taste, but he did. Pixel is so unromantic, but then again, Comet wouldn't know romance if it punched him in that handsome face of his. I keep telling him, listen Comet, I know you're hot but fan service can only get you so far. Did he listen? Of course he didn't! Then I told Pixel that her geekyness was a turn off for guys, but did she listen to me? No she didn't! They even have that in common, they don't follow my advice! Then she's suddenly all buddy-buddy with Comet, even if she hardly said hello to him the first time they met. They became friends over video games and action movies and you can practically smell the attraction."

With another deep breath, Laiki proceeded, "did you know Pixel's been here for a while? I used to call her rookie because she was like a rookie, not having found her place in Team Rocket. It's not like that anymore; she's really on track now. The point is, that they've known each other long enough to know they like each other. I told Comet, I told him, you listen here, you're never going to find a girl who's as dismissive of monthaversaries and other such occasions as this one. She's the only one who's not even going to notice if you happen to forget one or all of them. She's the only one that is most likely to laugh at sweet talk instead of appreciating it. She's the one who will actually like to hear things simple and direct. I told him to go for it, I really did!"

Laiki's incessant rant continued, her words came out at an almost inhumanly high speed. "Do you know what Pixel said? She goes and says that she's only into guys that are older than her. Then she makes it sound like three years are three hundred! I've dated with a seven year difference on both directions and it went just fine! So I dared Pixel to come over here and watch Comet race. Maybe she just needs some fan service to motivate her that they really are perfect for each other." 

"Then they can have their unromantic relationship and discuss virtual weaponry while hunting down alien pokemon in a simulated world. They can continue acting as if they're just friends and the world can remain oblivious to what happens behind closed doors. Because you know," Laiki paused to wink, "unromantic people are still human after all."

"Laiki," the familiar voice of Pixel interrupted Laiki's rant, as the other young woman made her arrival known. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, "too Torchic to come watch, am I?"

"You came!" Laiki cheered.

Delia's unvoiced thoughts were 'not a moment too soon.' Luke was too dizzy to think at all, he gripped the railing to avoid losing his balance. Delia wanted to lend an ear, she really did. After all, Laiki had grown up without a mother. She had Binks, but he was troubled, plus he was a man and she clearly had the necessity for girl talk. Still, she had to question how healthy it was to listen to this girl go on and on about her friends. Laiki's two admirers had fled, unable to follow her quick words and afraid they would be pushed to insanity.

From the balcony, Delia could see that the two long pools were actually one gigantic oval shaped pool. At the starting line, there were several Rockets riding on water pokemon. Pillars came up from the bottom of the pool, rising above the water. The mechanism on the pillars activated, splitting them into two hexagonal hoops, one above the other. Comet was at the starting line with Gyarados. His opponents were a brown haired man on a Tentacruel, a blond woman on a Milotic and a blond man on a Blastoise.

Rockets were free to sign up for a variety of events as many times as they wished, or had time for during the week. These events, albeit viewed by many as recreation, served as training and were lucrative to Team Rocket through bets and entry fees. Most of the time it was the fans who purchased entry tickets for their favorite contestants, in hopes of seeing them in action again. The prizes, aside from bragging rights, consisted of Rocket points, which were received or lost depending on one's ranking and record. Those points contributed a bonus to the rank score, sometimes being enough to make the difference between one rank and the next. The rank in turn decided certain benefits that included, but were not limited to, the type of mission assignments and payment. Of course, there were also missions that had special requirements aside from rank.

Once a week, four contestants would be chosen for the championship race. They would be: the contestant with the fastest racing record over all, the fastest record for the week, the largest total number of wins over all and the largest number of wins for the week. If one person held more than one of those titles, the runner ups for the titles that were repeated would face off for a chance to fill up the open spot. If any of those titles were held by two or more people, there would be a tie breaker race to determine who would go to the championship. If the holder of any of those titles could not be present, the title would not be lost, as the reason could be something more important, such as an official mission. However, for that week, the runner up would fill in the empty space. Tie breakers were in order if more than one runner up existed. The weekly championship wins were counted separately from the regular victories.

"The Electric Ring Race weekly championship will no longer be taking bets," the announcer sounded a lot like Jango. He had served as the referee in the Viridian Stadium tournament. "Let's get ready to race! Back for a rematch, we have Tyson riding on Tentacruel. He posted the fastest time of the week. Tyson came close to winning last week's championship race, giving our next contestant quite a challenge. Attila is a fierce competitor who joins the races very often. With his Blastoise, he holds the record for most wins overall." 

Jango's voice came from seemingly everywhere, "enjoying a winning streak, we have the beauty of the Aquatic Circuit, Domino. Riding on her elegant Milotic, she had the most wins this week. Finally, after being absent from last week's championship, we have the return of Comet, riding on Gyarados. Comet holds the fastest time overall and is tied with Attila for most championship wins."

Jango then made a quick recap of the rules, "both the pokemon and the trainer need to pass through each of the seven sets of circles. You do not need to stay in your initial lane. If you miss a ring, you can't move on until you succeed in the jump. On your marks, ready... Go!" A loud sound reminiscent of a gunshot rung out, though it was only a recording.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. 

To clarify, number three is also referred to as the Bloody Killer and the first survivor, since he was the first one to be "awakened" from the three clones that survived out of the original twelve. He was altered to grow up faster and be stronger than a human.

Number seven, who was ironically expected to be the "weakest" due to not being modified, turned out to be the only one capable of rational thought. He is known as Comet, the second survivor, as he was the second to awaken out of the three who lived. He wasn't genetically modified.

Finally, there's number ten, who was in a coma most of the time, thus never truly fully conscious. He was the third survivor, the only one that Binks didn't elaborate about before. He was modified to be stronger, but he aged normally.

I wanted to give Luke and Comet some differences in terms of appearance, so that their similarities would be noticeable but not shocking. It would be out of character to dye their hair or have them wear contact lenses, so other than the age and having different haircuts, the sun made the difference. Luke is tanned from being out in the wilderness looking for strong pokemon so often. Comet is not tanned because his missions mostly involve sneaking around at night to steal, blackmail plant evidence, etc. thus he's not out in the sun much.


	26. Part 26

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 88: Give me Purpose

In the Aquatic Circuit XL, underground at Viridian, Blastoise, Tentacruel, Milotic and Gyarados launched forward in the pool, speedily surfing along the water. As they approached the first jump, Delia noticed the rings were electrified. The hoops were large enough for fully evolved pokemon to jump through, but touching the edges would be painful. The water pokemon jumped through the lower hoops almost in unison. The trainers jumped through the higher rings, landing on their pokemon's back on the other side. As they progressed through the lap, the circles were a little higher.

The balcony soon became crowded with spectators witnessing the race. The lower part of the floor was also crowded with people watching the competition unfold. They were getting drenched being so close to the pool, but they didn't seem to care, caught in the excitement of the race. The racers were almost to the turn of the oval shaped pool on one of the far sides. There was another hoop there, which was a difficult move.

"Gyarados' body is so long and that turn looks difficult. He would have to fly to get through that without touching the hoop," Delia watched with concern.

"Even if they like touch the hoops, the electricity isn't like enough to like seriously hurt, it'll just like sting, you know? It'll like get stronger, but it's like still not that bad, you know?" Luke's dizziness from Laiki's speech seemed to have considerably dissipated as he focused on watching the race.

Gyarados leapt from the water, the turns on either side of the oval shaped watery race track were the hardest part. His long body was almost through as the pull of gravity inevitably acted against him. The long water pokemon's tail touched the large ring, which let out a blast of electricity. He growled in protest, his wet scales transferring some of the shock to his trainer. However, they were far from out of the race. They continued on as if nothing happened, racing through the other side of the giant pool. 

Domino wasn't so lucky. Milotic screeched and contorted with the jolt of electricity that took her by surprise after miscalculating the jump. She threw her trainer into the water below. They would not be disqualified, but would lose precious time as the other contestants moved further ahead. 

The race continued with the circles becoming higher. At the third jump, Tyson, Attila and Comet were head to head. As they passed by, water splashed up to the people in the balcony, though they were high and far enough so that only a few drops reached them. On the forth ring, Domino started to catch up. Approaching the fifth hoop, Comet took to the inner side of the pool, with Gyarados jumping through the second one from the inside. Closing in on the sixth jump, they went even closer to the inner area. It might have been the shortest route to the goal, but it was the most difficult jump to make due to the sharp turn.

"Why is he getting closer? Isn't it easier on the further side?" Delia's voice was barely audible over the cheers of the crowds. 

"It's like too high and Gyarados is like too long, you know? He'll like touch the ring anyway, you know? Like only one of the rings like electrocutes at the same time. I like think Comet's like going to take the hit, it's like allowed, you know? You should like see the rookies like racing or like trying to race. They like fall off and sometimes like climb the pillars because their pokemon can't like jump like high enough while like carrying them, you know? Almost everything's allowed except like switching pokemon, or like attacking someone else, or like skipping a ring. If you like know your pokemon will touch the ring anyway, you can like touch it yourself and like take the hit," Luke explained.

"If the pokemon faints it's an instant loss," Laiki elaborated, "but that only really happens with rookies. Gyarados can take the hit; Comet just wants to make it easier for him."

The sixth jump happened as they had expected, with Comet choosing to go through the most difficult route in hopes of claiming a solid lead. He watched for the timing and reached for the ring as Gyarados slipped through it. The electricity was stronger than in the past rings. Attila fell a little behind, having decided that he wanted to avoid the delay that it may cause if his Blastoise touched the circle. Attila jumped through the third one from the inside. Tyson took the second hoop from the inside, along with the second place so far.

Attila refused to give up; this race would decide who held the top spot in championship wins. There was only one jump left and Comet was perfectly positioned to take the innermost ring. Since there was no turn involved, it would be easier even if it was the highest jump. Attila pushed his Blastoise to go faster and momentarily passed Tyson. Attila was aiming for the second innermost ring so that he would come out next to Comet, rather than directly behind him. Tyson refused to let it go and the two men guided their pokemon to jump through the second innermost ring. At the same time, Domino, jumped through the third ring from the inside, determined to make a strong final effort. Unlike Attila and Tyson, she had nothing to collide with.

Attila and Tyson's Blastoise and Tentacruel bumped into each other as they passed through the ring, throwing their trainers off. The two pokemon were uncomfortably stuck in the ring simultaneously, before finally squeezing through together. Attila and Tyson had landed in the water near each other and were fighting. Another Rocket with a whistle called their attention and they swam away from each other, glaring daggers. Attila and Tyson got out of the pool, knowing of the repercussions that came from causing unnecessary fights within the base, which may disturb the training activities.

Without looking back, Comet had already crossed the finish line and claimed the victory for the race. The triumph also broke the tie for most championship wins, which he previously had with Attila. Domino took second place, while Attila and Tyson were declared disqualified due to having attacked each other. They would still be able to continue racing next time, since the fight didn't become serious enough to merit anything beyond a warning. The look Attila gave the others made it clear he would return the following week and expected them to be there. A championship win was still counted even if the previous week's champion wasn't present, but Attila wanted a rematch and Comet was all up for it.

The crowd dispersed with some running off to collect their winnings and others ready to count their losses. Some went to congratulate the winner and others discussed the most exciting parts of the race with their friends. The pillars with the pairs of hexagonal rings became straight again and sunk beneath the water of the pool. The island in the pool's center sunk as well, with the water level going down to fill up the space. The water was filled up to the proper level again as they got ready for some other type of competition.

Delia smiled seeing that there was a good amount of control over the sport. Plus the rings really weren't as dangerous as she thought. Nearly lost in the crowds, Delia managed to keep an eye on Comet as he made his way past the multitude, occasionally stopping to exchange a few words with people. He headed for some doors on the far wall. People were coming and going from the large double doors, men through the left and women through the right. He was probably heading to the lockers to get dressed. "Good luck," she smiled at Luke reassuringly.

"It'll be like okay, because you said so, you know?" With confidence, Luke walked off to the elevator disappearing out of sight. 

Delia was left to wonder if her judgment really should be trusted that much. The atmosphere was so cheerful that she felt optimistic as she realized, "Ash would love to try this."

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, in a small cottage, north of Ecruteak City, Iblis paced around impatiently. There was a teenager tied to a chair. The small structure of the cottage was otherwise furnished with an old wooden table and three other chairs, one of them lopsided. The effects of the induced sleep had since worn off and the boy was glaring daggers at his captor. He reminded her of both Ash and Giovanni, it was unnerving. 

Iblis knew she couldn't risk going back for Ash, certainly not in broad daylight. She should have guessed that the capture was far too easy. "It doesn't matter," she thought aloud. "Sweet Delia will come for you anyway," she laughed like a witch from a fairytale, determined to make the protagonist miserable. She was in an especially rotten mood due to her plans failing one after another. To top it all up, that clone she worked so hard to get out of the Rocket lab had escaped. She had no idea where number ten could have gone.

"Why are you doing this? Why Delia? What did she ever do to you?" Vandel, alias Skye, asked from his position tied to the chair. She had taken his pokeball containing the green Bulbasaur and had it on her belt. 

"She stole him from me," Iblis growled bitterly, "I was to become the queen of the world and she stole everything from me!"

"I see..." Vandel closed his eyes in thought, "so that's what happened, you intend to kill her."

"I will!" Iblis raged, "she'll come for you even if you're not Ash. You'll just have to be enough."

"I don't think Ash would have been captured," Vandel mused, "I don't know what happened, what would have happened or what will happen, but it seems I found the cause."

"Stop your stupid ramblings!" Her eyes threatened to silence him permanently if he didn't shut up.

Vandel grinned, much like Giovanni when he was feeling victorious. His eyes shone with a special kind of determination, the kind found in Ash's eyes. "I guess I'm no longer taking random guesses, that's good to know." With one swift motion, Vandel was on his feet at an odd angle, with his ankles strapped to the chair's legs. He quickly spun around knocking Iblis back with the chair and simultaneously knocking one of her pokeballs off her belt. It was Bulbasaur; he saw the scratches from when Givan batted it away with his claws the previous day, sending the pokeball crashing into the wall. That earned him a protest of disapproval from Dia, who thought that calling out Bulbasaur for dinner could have been done more gently.

"Saur?" The little green Bulbasaur didn't recognize his surroundings and was instantly frightened. His fear grew upon seeing his trainer tied to a chair, struggling to stop some scary lady from taking aim with her gun. He was using the chair to tackle her backwards, trying to make her lose her grip on the weapon.

"Bulbasaur, razor leaf on me!" Vandel ordered with such authority that Bulbasaur dared not question it. The small green pokemon attacked his own trainer, successfully freeing him of the ropes that had bound him to the chair. A few small cuts were also inflicted upon him, but he didn't seem to care. 

"You insolent fool; you're going to die for this!" Iblis was finally able to aim. However, her gun shot missed Vandel as small vine whips wrapped around her arm and pulled.

Wasting no time, Vandel kicked the gun out of her hand and delivered a solid punch to the face, which left Iblis in a pained daze. "Saving Delia is what I've been training for. You might have killed her the first time, but not this time. This time, I'm here; this time, the great fall will be prevented." The boy picked up the gun from the floor. "If I kill you, you won't be able to kill her." He aimed for her head at point blank; she was still too dazed from the hit to try to get away. It would be hopeless anyway.

"Bulbasaur!" Frightened, the small green pokemon wrapped one of his vine whips around his trainer's wrist. "Saur!" He shook his head.

"Mind your own business," Vandel harshly pulled the vine whip away. "You have no idea what the future is like, this is to save your kind as well."

"Gengar, Alakazam," Iblis weakly released her pokemon. They were trained for interrogations, not battles. She knew there wasn't much they could do. However, if they served as her shield, that would be enough.

The door to the cottage was suddenly knocked down by a large, strong Persian. He was quick to attack the Alakazam and Gengar slashing at them in rapid succession. Iblis watched in horror, fearing for her life, "confuse ray, hypnosis, fight back!" The Alakazam and Gengar, who had been forcefully evolved, were helpless against the Persian. They were knocked out easily.

"Givan," Vandel immediately recognized his own pokemon, lowering his weapon. "How did you find me?"

Givan shook his head, indicating that this was not the proper time to discuss such details. Besides, he wasn't wearing his collar, so Vandel wouldn't understand him anyway. Furthermore, he didn't know the answer to that himself. He just knew that the cottage was the enemy's hideout. When he went to check on Vandel and realized he was missing from Pallet Town, he went to find him there. 

It was one of those random thoughts that surfaced without explanation. It was an inexplicable answer that he knew but shouldn't know. It was almost as if he could vaguely remember bits and pieces of things he couldn't have witnessed. Givan's silent gestures were enough to communicate that they should give Iblis to Team Rocket alive. After all, Dia would strongly disapprove if he allowed the boy to have any blood on his hands. 

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Team Rocket Viridian base, among the spectators of the Aquatic Circuit XL, Laiki had suddenly frozen and fallen silent after Luke left. Delia was there when Giovanni brought the cure, she probably knew the truth.

"Laiki?" Pixel waved her hand in front of the blond girl's face. "I think she's experiencing a mental blue screen."

After a few more seconds, Laiki finally blinked, "this is a totally crazy theory, but I have to ask," she paused and looked at Delia seriously. "When you mentioned Luke had to talk to Comet, you didn't mean about... his... origin... did you?"

"Actually, yes," Delia admitted, further questioning if she should have encouraged that or not. The way Laiki's jaw dropped and she experienced, as Pixel would say, another mental blue screen, wasn't exactly encouraging. 

"What origin?" Pixel curiously inquired.

"Um... ah... er..." Laiki babbled before blurting out, "Comet is long lost royalty!"

Laiki's announcement was something that neither Pixel nor Delia believed. "Long lost royalty, right. Who is his majesty Comet related to?" Pixel further inquired, wondering what crazy story Laiki would come up with. Her question about the mysterious detail, that both Laiki and Delia seemed to know about, was still present in her mind. If they didn't tell her, she would get some information out of Comet later. Besides, how secret could his origin be?

"Well you see," Laiki began her explanation in all seriousness. "I happen to know that the daughter, of the son, of the aunt, of Comet's father, is dating the long lost prince of our secret and proud kingdom. So that means that if they get married, she would be the princess. Which means that Comet would have a... um... what do you call the daughter, of the son, of the aunt, of your father anyway?"

"The son of your aunt would be your cousin, so this is the daughter of Luke's cousin we're talking about," Pixel mused. 

The conversation took another casual turn and Delia decided to go along with it. "Right, if your father's cousin is your second cousin, I think that the daughter of your father's cousin would be your third cousin," Delia reasoned.

"Right," Laiki nodded, "one day, Comet's third cousin might become royalty for all we know."

"That makes him a royal how?" In Pixel's opinion, the relation, if it were real, was far too distant to mean anything.

"By the marriage of his third cousin," Laiki didn't really know how to support her point beyond that. "I don't know how close that is to actually happening, maybe Delia can tell us."

"Me?" Delia blinked, was she supposed to add something to the fairytale? 

Laiki nodded energetically at the prospect of hearing some interesting information. "You're the queen after all, you should know."

Delia paused and allowed the influx of information to wash over her. If she was the queen in Laiki's story, that meant the so called kingdom was Team Rocket, of which Giovanni was the king. That would make Ash the prince and the future princess was, "Misty?"

"Yup," Laiki chirped, "I happen to know that her father was Luke's cousin, the son of his aunt."

"Wow, I guess there are more family connections than I thought," Delia laughed. She had learned a lot of interesting things as of her return to Team Rocket. Daisy was married to Lando, whose father and consequently he, worked for Team Rocket. Violet was dating Kenobi, the son of Rune, who was currently Viridian mayor and secretly also with Team Rocket. Kenobi was also the future mayor of Viridian City if all went according to plans. Misty was engaged to Ash, who was the son of the leader of Team Rocket. As if all those connections weren't enough, some kind of obscure distant connection had to turn up to add another drop to the already full glass. "Now that you mention it, Comet and Misty's hair color is pretty similar."

"That doesn't explain all this secrecy," Pixel pointed out the fact that she was not so easily distracted.

"Yes, well... I guess he'll tell you eventually, maybe," Laiki gave a weak forced smile before clapping her hands together and loudly declaring, "let's just forget about everything and go man watching!"

"I should go see if Giovanni needs anything," Delia decided.

"I have to keep studying codes," Pixel added.

"Fine, be that way," Laiki sighed, "ah well, maybe I should go back to my usual post now." She headed to the lockers to get dressed so she could return to the infirmary.

Unlike Laiki, Pixel was still in her Team Rocket uniform. Delia's thoughts went to Luke and Comet one more time. "Could you keep an eye on Comet for me? If he seems... sad, let me know, maybe I could help somehow." 

"Sure, no problem," Pixel's curiosity incremented with Delia's request, but she left it at that for the time being. 

xoxox xox xoxox

At the battle arena of the Viridian Gym, a newly evolved pokemon was easily beating the opponent. Delia arrived on time to catch the end of the battle between Giovanni's Rhyperior and a Rocket grunt's Mightyena. The Mightyena was knocked out and recalled into its pokeball, with an apology from the grunt for not providing a better challenge, or any challenge at all. 

"Doing some training?" Delia smiled as she approached Giovanni.

"Hardly," he replied almost amused, which was unusual given that he didn't get the challenge he wanted. He was looking forward to the challenge he would surely get from Ash.

Delia saw it coming from a mile away. They would battle; she knew it all too well. It was almost like a form of communication for pokemon trainers. She knew Ash would want to battle too and she hoped that they somehow became a little closer that way, even if it was just a tiny first step. The day felt crowded with many events, but also somehow optimistic. "I'm going to Pallet Town."

Giovanni nodded, "I'll see you this evening."

"Yes," Delia smiled, "both of us."

xoxox xox xoxox

Just outside of Pallet Town, a trainer made his way through Route One with an egg in his arms. He had traveled from the eastern edge of Kanto where the virus was at its worst. His entire pokemon team had fallen to the illness. The effects of the virus seem to lessen as he traveled to the west of Kanto and were not as strong in Johto. He didn't know how long that would last, but it was his only hope. He knew that the Oak research laboratory was in Pallet Town and intended to leave the egg there to be studied. It was all he had left of his past pokemon. 

"What does it matter, it's doomed anyway." He bitterly set the egg down on the side of the road and went on his way. He intended to get a fresh start in Johto and maybe head home to Hoenn before things got worse in Johto.

"Vulpix!" Dia had gone out to patrol the area, just in case, while Givan ran off to find Vandel. She knew that he had a point in not wanting to leave Pallet Town unguarded by someone of their team. Witnessing the trainer abandoning his pokemon, one that had not even hatched no less, she ran over to him. "Vulpix, vulpix!"

The trainer was tempted to try to catch the Vulpix which looked healthy enough, but had no way to do so. He was going to obtain a new pokemon to start with from a friend in Johto. Shaking his head, he turned around and headed away from Pallet Town, ignoring the Vulpix.

"Vulpix!" Dia called once more, but was ignored. If that's how it was, maybe the little one was better off with someone else. Dia touched the small egg, it was still warm and it twitched occasionally, it would hatch very soon. How could that trainer abandon the poor baby? Dia knew she couldn't take the child with her. When she, Givan and Vandel went home, they could only take what they came with. However, she could at least find a home for the child. She picked up the egg with one paw, holding it close to her chest, and went back to the Pallet House.

xoxox xox xoxox

It was the afternoon in Pallet Town and Vandel was getting ready to leave. "The world should be much better now." He looked at Dia, who seemed to be feeling accomplished. She had her collar back on, since they were leaving soon anyway. "All that's left to do is to give Ash the anti-paradox card." He looked around the guest room that had served as his residence during his stay at the Oak research lab. As soon as he gave Ash that card, the last piece to the puzzle would be set. "Hey Dia, what did you do with that egg you had when Givan and I got back to Pallet Town?"

"I gave it to Delia," Dia replied, her collar tracing red sound lines as she spoke. 

Dia remembered Delia wondering if the egg belonged to Dia, to which she shook her head. "An orphan?" Delia had asked, to which Dia nodded. "Do you think Skye will want to take care of it?" It was out of the question if he wanted to keep the baby pokemon or not, he couldn't anyway. Delia seemed to somehow understand and offered, "I can take care of the baby." Dia had smiled and encouraged her to do so. Delia's team then consisted of Kingler, Cloyster, Mimey, the fully recovered Oddish, whom was given back to her after healing, and a mysterious egg.

Vandel nodded, "that's good, she'll take care of it." He looked at the pokeball containing Bulbasaur. "I guess this is goodbye." He released the grass pokemon and petted him, "you're going to be the Oaks' pokemon again, I can't take you with me where we're going."

The little green Bulbasaur seemed sad, not understanding why he couldn't accompany his new trainer on his journey. He had witnessed some scary things in their short time together, but he thought that if he continued journeying with Skye and his other pokemon, it would all be for the best. "Saur?"

"Aw, it's not that we don't like you," Dia tried to console the disappointed little Bulbasaur. "It's hard to explain, we can't take anyone along that wasn't in our original group. Don't worry, the Oaks will find a new trainer for you and it'll be lots of fun."

"Bulba saur," though still a bit disappointed, the Bulbasaur at least seemed to accept the fact. 

"I'll miss you too," Dia smiled gently.

Vandel threw his backpack over his shoulders. He made sure not to leave anything behind, with the exception of the card, and not to take anything he didn't come with. "Where did Givan run off to anyway?" 

"I'm sure he'll be back soon," Dia replied and exited the guest room along with Vandel. They went to find Gary.

Gary was in the middle of typing something, apparently some kind of research. A cup of coffee was sitting next to his keyboard with pictures of the three Kanto starter pokemon. "Almost done, almost... Rejecting my article on that reason, how could they?" He muttered under his breath. "It may inspire an unnecessary panic, they say," he grumbled. "Panic is never necessary, but none the less the gravity of the situation can't be hidden for much longer. The east of Kanto is a mess," his furious typing never ceased. "Make it sound more hopeful," he grumbled, "how am I supposed to do that?" 

"Excuse me," Vandel spoke up and Gary's rambling ceased immediately.

The young researcher looked up from his computer and smiled as casually as he could. "You disappeared for a while. There was a drunken Rocket stumbling around like a zombie in town, but I didn't think that could be the cause of your little disappearance. After all, that guy was so confused and had no pokemon on him. I handed him to the police. So, where did you run off to?"

"No where important," Vandel lied, "listen, I can't really explain it, but I have to go back home. I don't think I'll return, ever. So this is goodbye, sorry it's so short notice."

Gary's expression soured, "you're worried about your pokemon, aren't you? It's because of the virus that's killed practically every pokemon in the east of Kanto; you're worried it'll reach here soon."

"That's not it," Givan and Dia were immune. However, the virus in the east was spreading fast. Maybe since the fall was adverted, the cure would come to that world sooner. Then maybe, the world from which Vandel came would be even better. It would no longer be a place where pokemon that used to be common were extremely rare. It wouldn't be a broken world, because is foundation would not have been removed; Team Rocket would still be there. "I just really need to go home. I can't take Bulbasaur with me," he handed the pokeball back to Gary. The little green Bulbasaur, who was still outside of it, sat down on the floor, next to the researcher's chair.

"Let me guess," Gary looked at him suspiciously, "you can't tell me where you're going or what your real name is?"

"How did you know?" Vandel was taken by surprise.

"I did a background check on you, just in case," Gary gave him a knowing grin. "There are no records of a Skye Mirai ever existing anywhere. That is a reason to be alarmed and suspicious, but you seemed trust worthy, so I let you stay. I don't know who you are, where you came from, why you're here or what you hoped to accomplish, but I don't think it's bad."

Vandel smirked, his eyes shone with determination and satisfaction at his mission. It was a look that Gary had seen in Ash before. That smirk was something he had seen somewhere else, in the Viridian City gym leader, though Gary wasn't immediately aware of it. "Even if I tell you the whole truth, I don't think you would believe it."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 89: Give me Revelations

While Vandel gave the Oaks his goodbyes, Givan was at the Pallet House. He led Ash outside, his tail wrapped around the young man's wrist as he pulled him along. "What was it that you wanted to show me?" Ash asked with curiosity. If he didn't know any better, he would think that big Persian just wanted to lead him away from everyone else.

They had finally found a quiet spot behind the Pallet House, while Delia, Misty and the pokemon were inside. Givan began to glow and anyone else would guess he was getting ready to attack. There was something about that Persian that reminded Ash of someone. It all made him so curious he didn't move. A blast of hidden power came from Givan, the red jewel on his forehead glowing brightly.

The effect of the hidden power was unusual; it caused Ash no pain as it overtook his senses. The young man gasped in surprise, his back pressed against the wall behind the Pallet House for support. He saw his mother holding a pokemon egg, she seemed younger. He saw her leaning into a volcano, when did that happen? He saw her standing on the edge of a cliff. This was more recent, but why was she in a Team Rocket uniform? He saw her wearing the dress from Daisy's wedding. Then he saw her again, in an unknown place, with a sincere expression. He heard her voice in his mind, 'I love you.' Then he heard another voice, 'I love you too,' and the visions ended.

Ash allowed himself to slip down the wall, almost breathless. "What did you do?" The images and the feelings that went with them were still fresh in his mind. "How did you do that?" He knew then that the one who Givan reminded him of was his father. It wasn't simply because Giovanni had a Persian too; it was something else, something much deeper. It was something that few would believe, even if it was explained to them. "Was I seeing what he saw? How is that even possible?" The large Persian seemed to have no intentions of elaborating on his 'message.' Ash remained on the same spot taking in the images that he saw. 

"There you are," Vandel, alias Skye, arrived, turning the corner and walking towards the area behind the Pallet House. "What are you doing sitting there?" Still too absorbed in his thoughts, Ash couldn't reply. Vandel took something from his backpack; it appeared to be a collectible card. It was the one exception to the rule; this was something that he had to leave behind to avoid contradictions. "This is for you," he gave the card to Ash.

Ash had just barely woken up enough to receive it. "It looks rare," he finally managed to find his voice.

"It is very rare, one of the kind I would say," Vandel grinned. "Keep it safe, make sure you never lose it," he spoke as if the fate of the world depended on it. "Eventually, when years pass, give it to your descendant and keep passing it on like that."

Ash nodded, after thinking about it, Skye was pretty mysterious. He had an aura of familiarity around him. His Persian reminded Ash of his father and the Vulpix of his mother. It was inexplicable, especially after what just happened. Somehow, he felt that he could trust this boy and his pokemon. "I'll treasure it, I promise."

"Good," Vandel's usual grin turned more into an Ash-like smile. "It's time for me to go home. I already said goodbye to the Oaks and Delia. I don't think I'll come by Pallet Town again," at least not that Pallet Town, "but I'll always remember my time here."

xoxox xox xoxox

Some time later, far from Pallet Town and away from the road, Vandel, Givan and Dia stopped and looked back at the little town in the distance one last time. They had anonymously reported Iblis to Team Rocket, who had sent some agents to investigate. It would be an inexplicable shock to find her tied up in the little cottage. It would be something Giovanni could never figure out, but at least it was a step forward. However, number ten and number three were still out there.

"Ready?" Vandel looked at his two pokemon, who nodded. He took a futuristic looking communication device from his backpack, which he kept well hidden. He activated it, feeling the static and heat from the equipment as it strained to reach its counterpart. "Mission accomplished!" He victoriously declared into the device.

Through the heavy static, a barely perceptible female voice replied, "well done, I'm taking you home." The machinery in the future locked on to their position. Just as mysteriously as they came, the boy, the Persian and the Vulpix disappeared. Though the boy thought the capture of Iblis was the key to preventing the fall of Team Rocket, that was far from the truth. 

'Do you ever wonder why we're here? I think I know...'

xoxox xox xoxox

Vandel returned to his place of origin, his own time hundreds of years later. This was not an underground base, but a grand palace. Red, black and gold covered every surface. Something that seemed out of place in the splendor, were the large hole on the ceiling and the disarray of broken furniture, shattered sculptures and ruined paintings. "He came," Vandel simply stated.

His mother, Hime, looked the same as he remembered her, save for her new expensive dress. "He did," she allowed a sigh to escape her. Then she held up the collectible card, which was in fact an information storage device. Card readers capable of interpreting the encoded message it carried wouldn't exist for years. When they did, they would recognize even the very old cards, using them for simulated pokemon battles. She was destined to stumble upon some very important information when trying to play a game. She reviewed the story she had learned from the card, "long ago a terrible disaster befell Team Rocket. Delia died due to circumstances history did not remember. As a result, Ash blamed Giovanni and challenged him and Team Rocket. Some say that eventually, Giovanni lost the will to fight. Some say that Ash found a way to cause big trouble for Team Rocket. Regardless of how it happened, the point was that Team Rocket fell."

After a pause, Hime continued, "when Team Rocket fell, the world fell apart along with it. The production and commerce of most food and medicine was paralyzed. Science took a harsh blow and a terrible virus continued to spread. They say that somewhere the cure might have existed, but no one found it. As a result, the world faced a terrible dark age that Ash regretted. Picking up the pieces was nearly impossible; the world was far too broken. Time passed and pokemon became rarer, with some becoming extinct. A few species would survive in time and begin to repopulate in the wild, but many would be lost forever."

Hime contemplated the card as she spoke, "Team Rocket, what was left of it, banded together to one day reemerge. Ash tried to fix his mistake of taking Team Rocket away from a world that needed it. The damage was done, thus an ambition was born to undo it all. It has been the duty of the Roketto to seek out Celebi and ask to use its power to change the past. Hundreds of years passed and it was finally done, though not by the peaceful means our ancestor would have wanted. However, if those disasters never happened, time traveling to prevent them would not be needed. If the time travel didn't occur, the disasters would happen. They would be erased and again a contradiction. With this information, I would know to train you and send you to the past whether you grew up as the son of a fugitive or the son of a queen. The loop of changes would be ever present and history would be changed without the danger of a paradox. I've forgotten my time as a fugitive; I've always lived as royalty."

"Lucky you," Vandel chuckled, "since I was not in my original time when the change occurred, my memories are the same. I remember the broken world; I remember why I so desperately needed to change it." He looked towards the palace's ruined state, "so Mewtwo came..."

"Yes, he took Celebi and left. I believe he was always watching," Hime confessed, "I believe that it was Celebi's wish to allow us this one change. We may be Team Rocket, and Celebi's dear friends Mew and Mewtwo are certainly not fond of us, but they respected Celebi's wishes. This was for pokemon kind as well. They allowed this to happen to save the millions of pokemon and even humans, who would have died in those dark ages. Don't be fooled by this broken throne room, this is nothing, the world is grand. Pokemon are abundant, the economy is flourishing and I am the queen of everything. Team Rocket rules the world as it should."

Vandel felt a great satisfaction upon hearing this. Dia still wished that they had tried harder to make Celebi understand their reasons to borrow the power to change history. In the end, it seemed the legendary pokemon understood. Mewtwo, a good friend of Celebi, went to the rescue, freeing the time traveler pokemon of the futuristic machines when the world was saved. The world was ruled by Team Rocket, but it was prosperous, it was undeniably better than before. For the sake of the world, Team Rocket would have to be accepted. The organization was also quite different since they had their own world to protect, rather than a world to conquer.

Vandel looked beside him at Givan and Dia. They had a whole new, much better, world to explore. "Without the fall of Team Rocket, history should be clear now, more accurate and detailed records should exist. It was Iblis, wasn't it?"

"Iblis?" Hime shook her head. "I know history well, I've read about it. Iblis Raymus was indeed an enemy of the past. However, for all we know it could have been someone else who was close to killing Delia and angering Ash. Whatever was set in motion changed history. There's no longer a way for us to know what would have happened without interference. The general records are available, but the small details of the past were destined to become a mystery, no matter how precisely the new history was recorded."

Vandel was taken by surprise. He captured Iblis, but she might not have been the key to changing history? History had clearly changed; his mission had been a success. Team Rocket, never fell, Ash and Giovanni did not become true enemies. "I see..."

"You must be tired from your travels, rest prince brat boy," Vandel decided it was best to follow his mother's suggestion and rest for the time being.

Vandel Roketto, descendant of Ash and thus Giovanni, from hundreds of years into the future, found that his chambers were indeed fit for a prince. He tossed his backpack aside and allowed himself to fall into his big comfy bed. "I still don't understand. If Iblis wasn't the problem, then I didn't change anything, yet everything changed."

Givan and Dia curled up on the bed next to their trainer. "It wasn't your duty to change it," Givan spoke as if he knew far more than he was saying. 

Vandel didn't read too deeply into it, his time was safe, the world didn't fall apart, that was all that mattered. His eyes went to an old hat encased in glass, a pokemon league collectible. The world of his era was different in many ways, but he still had that hat safely kept among his belongings. He was able to learn mostly about Giovanni before, but the new Team Rocket history should remember Ash more and in a better light now.

Givan closed his eyes and slept comfortably, it had been a long journey. Perhaps the duty to change the past was his after all. Those memories of past events were truly his as well, images of another life from long ago. Dia was still there, to make sure he didn't lose his way, to support him and to remind him of what he really wanted, just like before.

xoxox xox xoxox

In the present, in the deepest underground laboratory in the Viridian Rocket base... Comet's hand went to the glass container, its coldness invading his palm. He closed his eyes and tried hard to remember. There were no memories like what one would expect from a child, no childhood to speak of. There was a cold and wet place mixed with the echo of voices. The voices were muffled and he couldn't understand them. He had not begun to live, he merely existed. 

Comet had always disregarded such thoughts as nonsense and formed his own logical theories. He had to have a mother, because someone had to give birth to him at some point. She was most likely a Rocket, because his father wouldn't have been able to have a relationship with someone who wasn't in Team Rocket, given the nature of his missions and situation. 

She must have died tragically, thus his father did not wish to speak of it or remember it. Comet himself might have been involved in that event that took his mother's life, he theorized. It was maybe that same event which erased his early childhood memories, leaving nothing but that faint gibberish of cold, wet darkness and muffled sounds. Maybe there was an accident, maybe he hit his head.

He sometimes tried to picture that mysterious lady he thought had existed at some point. Her appearance was always different every time he imagined her, since he could gather few clues about that based on himself, he looked just like his father. Lady Luck, he would call her in his thoughts, maybe that small number seven he had on his arm since before the true beginning of his memories was something from her, a sort of amulet. It was funny, because he didn't believe in leaving things to luck, maybe she had and that let to her unknown tragic demise. None of that was true, none of it was real, Lady Luck didn't exist, she never had.

He looked down at the number on the base of the tank, it was a seven. There were twelve of them, all empty now. They must have been used later for other beings, pokemon most likely, but he was one of the few humans who had originated in this laboratory equipment. They were originally on New Island, later moved to Viridian after the digging and construction was finalized. Perhaps it was more accurate to think he was the only human that had come out of it still human. Admittedly, his unusual origins didn't bother him as much as the fact that there were two insane versions of him out there. As he looked up at the glass again, he saw the faint reflection of his father standing behind him with Binks. 

The thin man, who for many years Comet had assumed was dead, looked too fragile to truly fit the profile of a mad scientist. He didn't look like he would have the strength to laugh insanely as one would expect a mad scientist to do. Another figure further away was reflected on the glass, Pixel was busy looking around curiously. She had approached them as Comet and Luke walked to a destination unknown to Comet. Luke had decided she should come and proceeded to ask for Giovanni's permission to take them both down to the lab, stating that Delia had already approved. Giovanni had agreed, letting them be on their way. The Rocket leader was rather easy to convince and eager to be left to focus his thoughts and continue his training. 

Comet turned around to face them and Luke appeared to be apologetic, "I'm like sorry I like didn't tell you like sooner, you know? It's like going to be like okay, you know?" He hurriedly added, "you're like the same as like always, you're like Comet, you can like go on living like always, you know? It's like okay, even your lover is like okay with it, man!"

"My what?" Through the stream of answers that flowed to resolve all his questions, one more question surfaced.

"Laiki like told me, you know?" Suddenly, Luke's statement made a lot more sense.

"Laiki has a big imagination," Pixel approached the others. She had been examining the lab, but also listening. "This is all really cool."

Binks observed her as if she was a strange specimen, "young lady, you are not alarmed?"

"Not really," Pixel smiled casually, "I used to live in a very lame place; stuff like this is still pretty cool to me." It wasn't exactly common in Team Rocket either, not anymore, especially not with humans. "I wish I had a story like this."

"Interesting," Binks nodded weekly, "it is not that the grass is always greener on the other side, but rather some are meant for certain shades and others for different shades. Those who know not their place will always think it is elsewhere. Those who know where they wish to be are capable of finding their place, even if it is far away from where they started." With his philosophy stated, Binks went back to staring at some beakers with fluorescent content. He mostly worked in his own little laboratory; it was nice to have some extra space to work in, even if that space brought bitter memories. The revelation of the truth and the rather calm resolution assured him that maybe the nightmare could end. Little by little, reality was less scary to look at.

"I'm glad you told me," Comet finally spoke, which filled both Luke and Binks with additional relief. "I'm going to request to be added to the assignment."

"You like want to look for like 'them' too?" Luke couldn't mask his surprise. He would prefer to stay away from number three and number ten, least they remind him of Comet and make him lose his concentration at a vital point.

"I've been taking too many sick days anyway," Comet reasoned, determination clear, "besides, it's kind of my business too. I'll help Team Rocket clean up, I'm a Rocket, it's my duty," plus he was curious to know how much he wasn't like them.

"If you're like sure," Luke presented no further arguments. He knew that Comet would go ahead with it anyway. He also had a feeling that Giovanni would allow it.

"Count me in, if there's anything I can assist with, I'll do it too," Pixel offered as she and Comet made their way back to the elevator for a long ride. Luke stayed behind with Binks for a little while, to make sure everything was okay. Comet looked calm enough and Pixel was with him.

"Hey Pix," he stopped in front of the elevator, his hand hovering over the button to open it. 

"Yeah?" She chimed curiously. 

"You know... the inevitable realization about life and how it shouldn't be wasted, combined with a new appreciation for what I have and all that stuff," Comet explained.

Pixel laughed, "along with some added sci-fi coolness, plus your usual 'I'm too cool to be melodramatic' atmosphere?"

"Something along those lines," he grinned and pressed the button to open the elevator, they both stepped in. "So... will you go out with me?" It was the second time he asked, the first he had received a negative answer.

Back then, Pixel wasn't sure what to expect of him. They were friends, but she didn't know if it was one of those passing friendships that would fade in time. People changed, they moved on to boring lives as 'good citizens' where she came from. They were off to slave away in a dull job and have a family simply because everyone else threw that same responsibility upon themselves. They lost their taste for fun and Pixel lost her interest in their existence, if there was ever any to begin with, which was rare. "I'm more of an indoors person..." Pixel paused in thought as the elevator doors closed and it started to move up. "In movies, I really like it when the action hero stays the action hero forever. I hate it when they make him a cheesy fluffy family man. I suppose I can rest assured that you won't become clingy or attention needy or overly fluffy."

"Nah, I'm too cool for that," Comet laughed, "besides, I'm a Rocket, I'm more like the action villain than the hero. They rarely turn lame."

Pixel grinned, "then okay."

xoxox xox xoxox

The afternoon was very calm in Pallet Town. After the mysterious Vandel, alias Skye, left, with Givan and Dia having influenced certain vital details, the town continued existing as any other day. It was a little town where events that were out of the ordinary were extremely rare and peaceful silence reigned supreme most of the time. That afternoon might have appeared to be exactly what one would expect of such a type of little town. 

Delia, proprietary, manager and chef of the small restaurant known as the Pallet House, sat on one of the outside tables with her son and his fiance, their pokemon playing outdoors nearby. There was seemingly nothing out of the ordinary with that picture; no one would have guessed the topic of their conversation. "I knew you would have to tell Misty eventually. Now that I think about it, I'm kind of glad you did," things couldn't get any more complicated, Delia thought. While the truths were being revealed it was best to face them without excuses after all.

"I'll make sure not to speak of this to anyone," Misty assured. "I have to admit I was taken by surprise." Seeing Ash's mother sitting there with them, Misty found it a little difficult to picture her as having a relationship with a crime lord, let alone the most powerful one. However, if it happened and still went on, there had to be much more to him than that. Perhaps some select characteristics of the good Viridian gym leader were more than just an act.

Delia smiled with optimistic reassurance, "I hope that's soon." She gently petted the little egg on her lap and felt it move in response. "The baby..." the atmosphere stood even more still than it already was. 

The sounds of the playing pokemon were replaced by silent curious looks as they gathered around to witness the egg hatching. The egg cracked as the baby pokemon tried to break free of its confinement. A tiny beak pecked at the egg shell as a blue little face came into view, surrounded by fluffy white. The small Swablu looked at Delia and chirped happily.

The group was still in awe about the baby when Delia's phone rang and she wondered who it could be. Misty automatically held out her arms, where Delia placed the little Swablu. The pokemon's eyes stayed on Delia, though she was very close by, so Swablu was calm. Delia looked at her little Rocket cell phone to see that the one calling was Pixel. She remembered that she had asked her to keep an eye on Comet. Immediately she wondered about his reaction and hoped for the best. Ash and Misty didn't even try to hide the fact that they were curious about that call. "That's wonderful, I'm so relieved!" She paused as if hearing something in the background, "that's a great idea."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 90: Give me Improvement

At the Viridian Rocket base infirmary, Laiki watched as Comet slept soundlessly. "How can he sleep so calmly? I would be freaked if I found out I was a clone," she pouted. They were away from prying eyes and ears, save for the few injured pokemon occupying the other beds. Only the sleeping Comet, the fussing Laiki and the composed Pixel were there.

"Why not? He got the truth he wanted and suddenly everything from not knowing his mother to that little number seven tattoo he's had on his arm his whole life make sense," Pixel reasoned. "This is not a life changing situation in the sense that those closest to Comet knew. If they intended to treat him any differently, they already would. Plus there's no uncertainty about what's to come. I'm sure Comet would have preferred to know sooner, but this is a revelation of the past, not the coming of unknown changes in the future. I didn't believe it at first, but after I got a tour of the lab... Let's say it was one surprise after another. I was surprised that Luke talked the boss into letting us go down there, I was surprised at what was down there and..."

"Shocked, scared, horrified?" Laiki added in, "I'm just glad you didn't freak out at Comet, he doesn't need something like that. Don't worry; you get over stuff like this."

"Actually," Pixel tried to put a stop to Laiki's usual fast theories, "I wasn't scared or horrified, just surprised and kind of excited to see stuff in real life that I thought could only exist in science fiction movies. Besides, Comet has such a cool past; I'm just some no name island girl who ran away to the main land. Let me tell you, I jumped with joy back when I first saw my supposed death on a news website. It was nice, having no identity in the eyes of the law, starting over as a Rocket. Anyway, that's getting off topic, the point is that I don't see what the freak out should be. So Comet is a clone, he's healthy, he'll live as long as a human, there are no set backs, just added coolness. So what if there are two insane clones out there and one has already become an urban legend? That doesn't mean-"

"What?" Laiki's eyes went wide as she stared at Pixel, "you know about that too? About number three alias the Bloody Killer and number ten?" What they were not aware of was that the Bloody Killer was to blame for the death of Laiki's parents; that was a secret that Binks still kept from his sister. "Just how much did Binks spill out? I wish I hadn't gotten sidetracked stalking that hot new guy I saw, then I could have gone with you. I can't believe Comet would go and tell you before telling me. He might have needed to get stuff out of his system and he told you instead of his 'big sis,' but then he went on and let you get the tour without me." That was something that happened because Luke had mistakenly believed them to be lovers and thus thought Pixel should be there for Comet. Laiki didn't know that and was, as always, quick to come up with her own theories. "That's it, it's a sure sign, he trusts you, he likes you and I know he just got extra attractive points from you for his sci-fi origins. Plus you're both such big fans of Team Rocket, not the rabid kind, the good kind, like me."

"Maybe he just knows I don't freak out easily," Pixel shrugged, as long as she had her precious technology, she was okay. "Anyway, you should also know Comet wouldn't fall apart over this. He seemed kind of bothered by it, as it is understandable, but he's got a very carefree nature. He's..." Pixel grinned, not completing the sentence.

Laiki pouted, "go ahead and say it, he's not like me. Excuse me, but it just bothers me to see someone I appreciate on the verge of death. He might have really, if Peachy had not..." Laiki left it at that, certainly not in the mood to finish voicing such a grim thought. "It's funny, in the rare occasions when I have field missions, I jump at the chance to shoot stuff. I guess lives only count if I care about them."

"I know what you mean, even if I'm not as trigger happy as you, which is a good thing given my aim." Pixel agreed, "priorities, loyalty over justice. I think we all understand that." 

"Really though, I'm kind of worried, I mean, Comet never sleeps like this." Laiki stood hovering over the young man who opened one eye before closing it again, then turned over and burying his face in the pillow.

"Of course, no one sleeps like this, not with us talking right next to him," Pixel reasoned. "We should let him rest. The best way to get over a cold is by playing tons of video games and the best way to get over a surprise is by sleeping it off."

"Your medical knowledge astounds me," Laiki joked, "I knew he was awake, he wasn't snoring."

"I don't snore," Comet defended.

"Do too," Laiki insisted.

"Do not," Comet argued.

"Do too," Laiki continued.

"Do not, Purry cured me while I was still on sick leave," Comet recalled the event, "if someone attempts to feed you a living Gyarados in your sleep, trust me, you'll keep your mouth closed at all times when you're asleep from that point on and you won't make a single sound. That's how powerful survival instinct can be." Not a second passed before the two girls erupted into laughter. Comet took a look around, "how are some of these pokemon still asleep?" He had to wonder, given all the noise they were making.

"They're sedated, I don't want them whining and making my job more difficult than it needs to be," Laiki stated as a matter of fact.

"I should have guessed," Comet sat up on the bed, no longer really in the mood to sleep. He observed Laiki's pouting worried expression, "relax, I'm here, I'm me, that's all that matters," he assured her.

"I guess you won't be needing your feel better present..." Laiki mused aloud.

"Oh, I'm so depressed!" Comet voiced dramatically with exaggerated pain. Then his expression turned amused, "give me my present," he grinned.

"Fine, but you could have at least tried to put up a more believable act. I know your acting skills are better than that." Laiki went to retrieve the gift from a storage room attached to the infirmary. It was a pokemon egg in a container. "It's ready to hatch, just take it out and wait for the little one to wake up." The container kept the egg from hatching until it was given to its trainer, so that loyalty would be formed when the baby hatched and saw the trainer. "I just find it unusual that you're over it so quickly; don't keep anything bottled up, okay?" Laiki tried to be supportive, while Pixel and Comet exchanged knowing looks. Those looks were not missed by Laiki, "there is something going on here."

"Relax, he didn't keep things bottled up. He already ranted at me and got things out of his system, all is well in the world," Pixel assured.

"I named my pokemon," Comet had gained a new appreciation for the fact that he had a name. He wasn't simply specimen number seven, he was Comet. That motivated him to name his pokemon. "Scyther is Rykros and Gyarados is Shenron." Comet took the egg out of its container and waited for it to begin to hatch.

A short while later, a portion of something black and somewhat pointy peeked out from the broken egg shell. The appendage broke more of the egg shell and white fur came into view. Finally, a little white and black head peeked out from the opening on the egg and looked at Comet with curious eyes, recognizing him as his 'father.' 

"Aw, how cute," Pixel smiled.

"What should we name him?" Comet gently petted the little Absol.

"Fluffy!" Laiki suggested. 

"That's a girl's name and this one is a boy," Comet pointed out. "Not to mention it's silly, who would name their pokemon Fluffy?"

"That would be pokemon abuse," Pixel agreed.

"I think Fluffy is cute," Laiki huffed.

"How about Meteor? Since you're Comet it kind of fits," Pixel suggested.

"Good idea," Comet agreed. "Is Meteor okay for you?" The little Absol cooed happily. "He likes it," Comet smiled, petting the baby pokemon.

"That's what I'm talking about," Laiki threw her hands in the air in an exaggerated expression. "Why aren't you two together already?" There was only silence in response. A few seconds passed, then a few more, "unless, you already are?"

After a few more moments of silence there was a chorus of "no weekaversary," originating from Comet and Pixel.

Laiki let out a loud squeal before pouting and whining, "you have to let me plan your weekaversary, I've had plenty of week long relationships, I have experience!"

"We don't need to know," Comet reminded her.

"Yeah, besides, neither of us is keeping count of time anyway and we're not into overly mushy situations," Pixel added.

"So then what are you going to do for a relationship?" Laiki's voice rose in pitch as she got excited, some would say over excited, about the whole thing. "Train, study, play videogames, go on Team Rocket missions... No one even notices you're together, even if everyone notices there's a certain chemistry there. Then what? Make out where no one can see you and repeat that same schedule the next day? No public displays of affection to show off what you can have and others can't? No weekaversaries, monthaversaries or anniversaries to be spoiled with tons of presents?"

Comet grinned, "works for me."

"Me too," Pixel agreed. 

Laiki pouted at Pixel, speaking as if Comet wasn't even listening, "how could you not demand weekly presents from your man? That's so unfeminine!"

"I'm still here, in case you've forgotten," Comet pointed out.

Laiki continued her outburst, "stay out of it, this is girl talk!"

"If you'll excuse me," Pixel raised her voice to silence any further arguing. "I promised Delia I would keep her informed. She seemed worried so I need to let her know everything is okay." Pixel called Delia's Rocket cell phone, it was the only number she had for her. 

As expected, as soon as Pixel called, Laiki let out of flood of 'tell her this and tell her that'. The nurse had seemingly let go of her previous relationship argument, for the time being at least. 

Pixel just barely managed to say, "hi Delia, it's Pixel, I just wanted to let you know that everything is fine." Then Delia heard Laiki's voice in the background going on and on about how they should all get together and in a split second it was agreed upon.

xoxox xox xoxox

Later that day, the brown car nicknamed the chocolate bar, in honor of a past car of the same color, appeared in the horizon heading towards Pallet Town. It stopped in front of the Pallet House and three people exited it, one practically bouncing with excitement with a high pitched, "Delia!"

"The visitors are here," Delia smiled. 

Ash and Misty were expecting visitors from Team Rocket, but Ash was still surprised to see just who had arrived. "You!" He pointed at Comet. "Your Meowth stole my hat!"

"I'll battle you for it," Comet offered, though he no longer had the hat in his possession, as it had long since been delivered to Giovanni.

Before the battle could start, Misty interrupted, "weren't you with Tempest?"

Then another intervention followed from Delia, "just a moment, you can have your friendly pokemon battles in a minute, let me introduce everyone first." She seemed to irradiate calmness into the atmosphere. "The one who is staring at Ash as if he's a very strange pokemon is Laiki."

Upon being called, Laiki ceased her examination and smiled sweetly, "hi!"

"Here we have Pixel," Delia continued with the introductions, "and Misty's third cousin, Comet."

Both Comet and Misty were taken by surprise, while Laiki nodded energetically, "it's true! It's true!"

"This is my son Ash and his fiance Misty," Delia finished.

"We're third cousins?" Misty asked with curiosity, "and you're not with Tempest?" She added in a quieter voice.

"Infiltration," Comet grinned, "that's all it was."

"I still want to battle for my hat," Ash pouted.

"The truth is I don't have it anymore," Comet admitted, much to Ash's dismay. Before Ash's despair could evolve into an accusation, he added, "the boss should have it."

It took Ash a moment to process that piece of information. The boss, the Team Rocket boss, Giovanni, his father. "Why hasn't he returned it?" He remembered that Giovanni had not been too fond of the hat before. "Did he throw it away?"

"Aw, he wouldn't," Delia certainly hoped not, or some unfortunate rookies would find themselves on an unusual mission to recover that hat wherever it went. It didn't matter if it was unusable anymore; it was a collector's item. "He's probably keeping it somewhere and just forgot to return it," he better have kept it. It would not be good for the true start of their relationship to be scarred by the loss of a precious hat. Anything could make things difficult and Delia certainly didn't want that. "You can ask him about it this evening."

"I will," Ash made a mental note to do so. While their unusual conversation took place, the group had settled into a table at the Pallet House. The Rockets were all in civilian clothes and didn't stand out for any reason other than the fact that they were not from Pallet Town and visitors were rare. That alone was still not enough to cause any alarm.

Misty had been thinking about her distant family relation with Comet, searching for any clues in her memories. "I remembered something," she finally spoke. "My sisters were looking at an old photo album." It was part of coping with Daisy's recent marriage. "There was a picture of a toddler Daisy with someone who kind of looked like you. Violet said that was 'uncle Luke,' he wasn't really our uncle, he was dad's cousin, but my older sisters would call him uncle. I don't think I ever met him, but Daisy is the oldest so she would remember best, Violet remembers a little too. Lily, the second youngest next to me, doesn't know much about him. I remember Violet mentioning that she and Daisy picked up saying the word 'like' from Luke, and Lily picked it up from them. I don't know if that's just something they made up or not, but if by any chance your father's name is Luke..."

"It is, and that sounds like something that would happen with him," Comet confirmed. He came close to picking up his father's style of speech when he was younger, until Laiki was assigned to the task of making sure he didn't. If he was going to grow up to be a Rocket agent, he needed to be able to write reports that didn't need to be 'translated' before the boss could stand to read them. "I guess we are related after all."

"Were there ever any doubts about my information?" Laiki pouted.

Ash observed Comet and Misty, "your hair color is a lot alike." After another moment of thought, he added, "we should commemorate this discovery with a pokemon battle!"

"You're on!" Comet was quick to agree, "two on two, you better not lower your guard. This won't be an act to make Tempest look bad."

"It's good to know that your real battle style isn't cheating," Ash grinned with anticipation, "I choose-"

"Not so close to the house!" Delia cut in, "why don't we go over to Professor Oak's place, there's plenty of space to battle there."

Excited for the battle, Ash was no longer worried about facing Professor Oak, someone who knew the truth. Besides, even if he did see him, the questions that floated in Ash's head could at least wait until that evening, since the time of his reunion with his father had been set. Ash recalled his pokemon to their pokeballs temporarily, all except Pikachu. Delia's baby Swablu and Comet's baby Absol were also left out of their pokeballs.

At the Oak research lab, Gary was surprised to see such a crowd coming to visit. "I have a battle!" Ash proudly declared, though it was nothing new. "Can we use your yard?"

Gary blinked, "sure," and he watched as Ash led the crowd in. Laiki paused, looked at Gary up and down, then winked before following along. It reminded him of when he used to travel with his cheering squad, except this young woman had something about her that screamed, 'I'm dangerous, therefore irrationally irresistible.'

Delia smiled sweetly and followed the group, "Laiki, you'll be a good girl and behave, won't you?" She whispered discretely.

"Off limits? Aw..." Laiki looked somewhat disappointed, but let it go. 

The walk to find a spacious spot outside was filled with casual conversation about Ash and Misty's friends from Viridian City who had come to visit. A convenient mention of Comet being a relative of Misty was added in for extra reassurance. Gary was also curious about the newborn Swablu that Delia had acquired and the newborn Absol, who was confirmed to have hatched on that same day as well.

The specific place were Ash and Comet would be battling was the same place were Ash and Giovanni had attempted to battle before, until a mischievous Jigglypuff interfered. Fortunately, the little troublemaker didn't seem to be around today. Ash was curious about where she went. Wherever she was, he hoped that it wasn't too close by, as she seemed to have regained the ability to pop out when he least expected it.

The two opponents exchanged confident looks as the audience gathered around to watch. "Shenron, I choose you!"

"I choose-" Ash was cut off by one of his pokemon jumping in front of him. "Sceptile?" He occasionally switched pokemon and had been recently traveling with his Kanto pokemon while the others stayed with Professor Oak. "I guess you want to battle?" Why not? To send out a grass type against a water type seemed logical enough. "Alright, I choose Sceptile!"

"A grass type," Comet observed, "Shenron, don't hold back!"

"Let's see how well you've really trained your pokemon, Sceptile, leaf blade!" Ash sent his pokemon on the attack. Eager to battle, Sceptile quickly closed the distance between himself and the Gyarados. The leaf on his right arm was already glowing, ready for a powerful strike. Just a little closer, "Sceptile, stop! Jump back and use leaf storm!" Ash called out at the last moment. 

Sceptile was confused by the sudden change in plans; he hesitated for a moment before retreating. Not wanting to lose the opportunity, Comet sent Shenron on the attack, "fire blast, twice!" 

Sceptile's leaf storm was scorched to nothing by the flames, but it at least served to shield the pokemon a little from its vulnerable element's first attack. Still surprised, Sceptile struggled to dodge the second blast of fire and came out with a few burns. "Sceptile, are you okay?" The grass pokemon shook away his surprise and nodded; he took some damage but could still fight. 

"You knew," Comet observed, "you called Sceptile back just in time. How did you guess what I was going to do?"

"I didn't guess it exactly," Ash admitted, "but I knew you were going to do something. I can't really explain it, I could almost feel it coming. Fire blast being used by a Gyarados, there's something you don't see every day. Twice in a row too, you catch your opponents off guard like this a lot, don't you?"

"That's right," Comet confirmed with a grin, as if remembering one of his missions where the element of surprise was in his favor. "People tend to associate water type pokemon with water moves, but they can learn more than that with the right technical machines."

It occurred to Ash that Team Rocket must have access to a large number of evolutionary items and technical machine discs. His eyes shone at the prospect of a real challenge. Not knowing what to expect beyond the awareness of facing a strong opponent could make a battle more interesting. "I'll just have to give it my all, another leaf storm Sceptile and get ready to use solar beam!"

"Get those leaves out of the way with thunder and charge in!" Comet quickly urged, saving the next fire blast for when Shenron was closer. Shenron didn't waste a second in unleashing the attack. Most of the leaves fell harmlessly with static around them, only a few reached the Gyarados, certainly not enough to stop him.

"Solar beam!" "Fire blast!" Ash and Comet called out in unison. The two powerful attacks collided in a bright light. The spectators and trainers had to look away from the extreme brightness. Neither pokemon wanted to give in, each trying their best to withstand the attack and take down the opponent. 

Finally, when the light faded and everyone was able to look at the results, the two pokemon lay unconscious next to each other. The mix of withstanding the attacks and pushing themselves to fight back had exhausted them. The attacks got through their defenses simultaneously, knocking out both combatants.

"Both pokemon are unable to battle," Gary formally announced, "the first round is a tie."

"Shenron return, you did very well," Comet recalled his pokemon.

"You too Sceptile, good job, return," Ash paused, realizing he didn't have Sceptile's pokeball with him. 

"Catch!" Gary threw a pokeball at Ash, which he caught.

"Sceptile's pokeball?" With that on hand, Ash recalled his unconscious pokemon. He then noticed a little green Bulbasaur next to Gary.

Gary petted the small green Bulbasaur, "I asked him to fetch the pokeball from the lab at the start of the match when you decided to use Sceptile. He's been here for a while so he's familiar with the lab. I told grandpa to give him to a trainer, but his past trainer couldn't keep him, so he ended up back here. Maybe I'll keep him around, I think he likes helping around the lab."

"Thanks," Ash voiced automatically, before he had a few seconds to process the implications, "hey! How come you assumed I would be needing the pokeball?"

"Lucky guess?" Gary laughed, "besides, Comet didn't seem at all bothered by the type disadvantage, so I thought something was up. It's still unusual for people to use these type of technical machines on Gyarados and for the pokemon to adapt so well."

"I've only really kept these two with me, so I've had time to train them," Comet explained, though it wasn't entirely true, since he was sometimes so busy with missions that his pokemon had to learn on the job. "Now I have Meteor too," the little Absol would be trained to track scents, as well as used his special ability to sense possible disasters. He would be another reliable partner to have during missions and another pokemon friend. "There's also a Meowth that's Pixel's pokemon too, but she comes and goes how she pleases." 

"Sounds like a mischievous one," Ash knew exactly what Meowth Comet was talking about, but pretended he could only imagine.

Comet released his other pokemon, "go Rykros!"

"He looks strong, but I won't lose," Ash's resolve grew; this would be the decisive match. "Pikachu, I choose you!"

With a determined, "pika!" the small and powerful yellow pokemon entered the designated battle area.

To be Continued

In this story Gyarados don't fly, that would be way too easy. XD Mirai means future, a reference to future Trunks from Dragon Ball Z. Shenron is a dragon from Dragon Ball Z. Rykros is a planet from the Phantasy Star video game series. Rykros is named after the legendary planet from PSIV (the one where Le Roof inhabits) not the one from Portable, hence why Comet mentions it being the original.


	27. Part 27

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 91: Give me Relaxation

At the Oak research lab, Ash and Comet both released their final pokemon for their two on two battle. The first round had been Ash's Sceptile versus Comet's Gyarados, Shenron. After round one ended with a draw, everything rested on the last two pokemon standing in the designated battle area in the Oaks' vast land. Comet's true style of battle was quite different from the display he made when infiltrating Tempest. This was something Ash was glad for. It made him subconsciously compare Team Rocket with Tempest and other gangs. Though in this case it had been the same person working as an infiltrator, there were many examples when the differences shone through. Team Rocket was a criminal organization, Ash understood that, but life wasn't all black and white.

"Pikachu, stay on your guard, thunderbolt!" Ash found piece in the midst of battle. He was reminded of the friendly battles he had with Jessie and James after they became friends. He would sometimes team up with Misty to train with them simultaneously in a double battle. It was those battles which helped them become closer friends and reach a deeper understanding of each other.

"Rykros, fly up and use focus energy," Comet commanded. His pokemon obeyed and basically disappeared in the vertical distance.

Ash tilted his head backwards as did Pikachu. "That's high," he commented sounding somehow amused.

"Did I break a rule or something?" Comet wondered. "I've never had any official battles." 

"Really? No contests or tournaments?" Ash asked in surprised. He knew when someone liked battling and he could sense that Comet did.

"A few tournaments, but those were not really official," Comet explained with a secretive look.

It took Ash a moment to catch on. Any tournaments Comet might have entered must have been internal in Team Rocket or maybe even illegal. His pokemon clearly trusted him, which further reminded Ash that people, and groups were more than just good or bad. "There are no vertical limits in this battle so it's okay. Besides, I've had my pokemon fly really high and out of reach in official matches before. They have to come down sometime."

"And they're all going to have to stop playing shadow tag sometime too, so that the battle can continue," Gary commented from the sidelines. The audience, consisting of Delia, Misty, Pixel, Laiki and Gary, was quite amused.

The two trainers watched as Rykros flew lower, with the two baby pokemon, Swablu and Meteor, the Absol, having wondered into the battle field. They were joined by the green Bulbasaur in trying to 'catch' the Scyther's shadow. The flying pokemon seemed to find amusement in watching them jump on his shadow. Rykros positioned himself on top of Pikachu, which caused the three younger pokemon to jump on him, caught up in their game. Pikachu was left in the bottom of a pokemon mountain, but he was laughing none the less.

Delia smiled at the funny little interruption, "okay you three, come over here so the battle can continue, then afterwards I'll give you cookies." The three small pokemon cheered and rushed to join Delia and the others in the sidelines. 

At the mention of cookies, Peachy popped out of her pokeball on Pixel's belt. The sudden red beam made Pixel jump in surprise, though immediately after, she thought she should have known. "Pika!" Peachy exclaimed loudly as her eyes shone.

"Sometimes I think Peachy's mission in life is to eat all the sweets in the world," Pixel theorized, never mind that her primary food was also sugar.

"Do you want cookies too, sweetie?" Delia smiled kindly at Peachy. She seemed close in age to Ash's Pikachu, perhaps a little younger. 

Peachy approached Delia with a wide smile, nodding her head eagerly, "pika! Pika!" She cheered as Delia petted her.

"Chu..." Pikachu's eyes traveled to the female of his species, admiring her shiny yellow coat and energetic atmosphere. However, she seemed focused on Delia as she had been the one to mention cookies.

'I bet she's going to make you give her all your treats,' Rykros teased. Teasing other pokemon seemed to be something he liked to do, even if he knew not to tease Purry, that Meowth had quite the temper. 

Pikachu's already red cheeks emitted sparks of slight embarrassment as he was caught staring. 'I didn't say anything...'

After the battle field was safely cleared, the battle was ready to resume. Ash saw the sparks flying from Pikachu's cheeks and assumed he was ready for an epic fight. "That's right Pikachu, let's give it our all!"

"Let's do this Rykros, show them your power!" Comet cheered on his own pokemon as well, unaware of the real cause of the male Pikachu's 'blushing' sparks. 

Albeit Pikachu's reaction was perceived by all the other humans present, no one really said anything aside from Rykros, who had spoken in pokemon language. Peachy's mind was far from thinking of the opposite gender, as her head was filled with thoughts of food. 

The two trainers knew very well that this round would be fast and strong as both pokemon were blessed with speed and power. The outbreak of commands began with a "thunderbolt" from Ash and a "hyper beam" from Comet. The blasts of energy collided in a bright light, but neither pokemon or trainer relented.

"Quick attack!" Ash called out. That Scyther was very speedy and if Pikachu was going to land a direct hit, he would have to close in fast. "Thunderbolt!"

"Swords dance!" With that attack, Rykros would prevent Pikachu from getting too close as well as deflecting his attack. At least that was what would have happened in most cases. However, Pikachu's electric attack was far too strong for Rykros to deflect. Realizing this after only the very beginning of Pikachu's attacked reached his pokemon, Comet quickly instructed him to use, "hyper beams, from above!"

Rykros caught some of Pikachu's electricity, but he was still able to battle despite feeling the stinging pain of the attack. He conjured a series of beams unleashing them as fast as he could while his target remained hidden in the light of their colliding powers. Neither trainer could see what was going on, nor could the audience. Following his sense of logic, Rykros aimed his beams at the source of the bolts of electricity shooting up at him from the ground. Pausing to catch his breath, Rykros waited for the extreme light to fade away and hopefully reveal his fainted opponent, but it didn't. The light didn't fade at all, instead taking a yellow hue as Pikachu unleashed his final thunderbolt and caused his opponent to faint.

"Rykros..." Comet observed the markings in the burnt grass. "I see, Pikachu used his own electricity as a decoy," he realized. "You put up a good fight, come back and rest." He recalled the Scyther into his pokeball.

Ash rubbed his eyes, which were watery from stubbornly trying to see what was going on, even if it had been impossible until the display of power ceased. "Great job Pikachu!" He cheered. Pikachu had gotten quite a workout and used a large amount of energy. "That was a fun battle. It's been a long time since I've seen Pikachu all out of breath, I thought only Ritchie could do that." The fact that he was able to battle someone who was still actively in Team Rocket without it being a true war, but a friendly test of skill and power, added to Ash's reassurance.

"I say the same that was a really good strategy at the end," Comet complimented. "Now all you have to do is win the next Indigo League."

Misty watched Ash and Comet shake hands and continue their conversation. That was all fine and wonderful; her worries had evaporated upon witnessing the scene. She was reassured again that not everyone in Team Rocket was bad. However, since the Indigo League was brought up, now Ash would probably go on and on about it for the rest of the visit. She found herself laughing unexpectedly. This visit was indeed just like a visit with old friends. Any tension that might have been left was completely gone after the battle.

Among friendly conversation and Ash's speech about how he was looking forward to the Indigo League, the group, joined by Gary, returned to the Pallet House.

xoxox xox xoxox

A few minutes later, Delia, Ash, Misty, Gary, Laiki, Comet, Pixel and their pokemon, were back at the Pallet House. The rest of the pokemon had been let out of their pokeballs to join in having an afternoon snack. Delia and Mimey emerged from the kitchen, heading towards the outdoor table were the group was seated. They each carried a large tray with mountains of cookies for the group to devour. 

Pikachu had decided to try to speak to the female Pikachu, who seemed to be the pokemon of that blue haired girl, Pixel. He knew she was a Rocket pokemon, but with Ash being the son of the Rocket boss, he didn't think it would matter too much if he happened to be friends with a Rocket pokemon. Besides, the group of trainers seemed to get along just fine with Ash and his mother. "Pika..." he tried to get her attention. It's not like he didn't have any female friends when he used to live in the wild before he ended up as Ash's pokemon. That was different, he was very young. He had met many other pokemon during his journey with Ash, but this one seemed to stand out. Everything from her presence, to her scent, to the static atmosphere perceivable by other electric pokemon was unique.

The female Pikachu, whom Ash's Pikachu had heard being called Peachy by her trainer, had been occupying her attention with the younger pokemon. Something seemed to spark her interest, quite literally as she smiled brightly and a few small electric sparks escaped her cheeks.

Ash's Pikachu smiled back, feeling flattered at such a seemingly approving reaction. He was about to try to make conversation, perhaps pointing out their mutual liking towards interaction with the young pokemon or speaking of the interesting connections of their trainers. Maybe he would inquire what life was like for her. If her healthy appearance, extra glossy coat and cheery disposition were any indication, Rocket or not, she was treated well. However, his train of thought halted when Peachy dashed right past him, apparently not even noticing him. She proceeded to climb on to her trainer's lap and from there reached the table.

Little Meteor began to climb up Comet's leg to get up to the table. Comet quickly picked him up before the small Absol decided to use his tiny claws for a better climbing grip. He placed the baby pokemon on his lap, where he could reach the cookies closest to Comet's side of the table without diving into the cookie mountain head first. Pixel had done the same thing with Peachy, knowing all too well what a bottomless pit she was. Pikachu pouted upon realizing that Peachy had not really given him a second glance, focusing on the food instead.

The baby Swablu had begun to try to fly, learning by instinct. She landed on Ash's head and from there jumped on to the table. The table was becoming quite crowded with pokemon hurrying to get their share of cookies before they ran out. "I better get some more cookies ready," Delia observed the pokemon clear most of the cookies and returned to the kitchen. 

"Chu..." sighing softly, Pikachu used Ash as a way to climb up to the table where he found that the cookies were already all gone, save for one. He reached for the last cookie in the middle of the table at the same time that Peachy got loose from Pixel and went to grab the cookie. Their yellow paws touched as they reached for the treat and a few sparks flew with the sudden contact of two powerful Pikachu. 

The male electric pokemon looked at the female in front of him and smiled. She took him by surprise with a battle cry of 'my cookie!' And tackled him right off the table. The event was interpreted by the humans as the two pokemon playing. Swablu and Meteor thought that the two Pikachu were no longer interested in the last cookie and they both reached for it at the same time. They both retreated and waited before pushing the cookie towards the other back and forth. They finally resolved the issue by breaking the cookie in half and sharing it.

"So, how are things with Team Rocket?" Gary suddenly asked, which made all the color drain from Ash's face. In a matter of seconds all his blood went to his feet and his face became white as a sheet. Misty had a somewhat opposite reaction, with her face becoming as red as her hair.

Gary was looking right at Pixel. He had been giving her suspicious glances, which were not missed by Laiki. The blond girl was a little jealous misinterpreting the suspicious looks. The cause of those glances was the fact that Gary recognized her as being from Team Rocket. A look of realization overtook Comet's face as he learned why Gary had been looking at Pixel. No one seemed to notice the change in his expression, since they were all focused on Gary.

Delia returned from the kitchen with more chocolate chip cookies, while Mimey followed her with three cake containers on top of each other. Delia placed the cookie tray on the table and took Mimey's load off his hands to place on the table. Before going back to the kitchen to get plates, spoons and a knife to cut the cake, she paused seeing Ash's pale face and Misty's flustered expression. "Did I miss something?"

The movement of time had become frozen upon Gary's question and went back into motion when Delia spoke. The atmosphere unfreezing caused Pixel to exclaim, "cosplay!"

Gary nodded in acceptance, he somehow knew there was little more to be done than to agree to the explanation. "Getting into character, weren't you?" Given the fact that Delia's cooking had helped convert Rockets into good citizens before, Gary considered his thoughts for a moment longer. It wasn't unheard of for Ash to end up being friends with someone who was formerly in Team Rocket. It happened with Jessie and James so who was to say it couldn't happen again? Though he didn't quite believe the cosplay story, he didn't think Pixel had any intentions of carrying out any wrong doings, thus he let it go. "It was a very realistic costume."

"Thanks," Pixel discreetly glanced at the pale Ash, who still seemed to believe that the mention of Team Rocket was somehow related to him. 

Misty had begun to regain her normal color. As for Ash, the normal flow of his blood wasn't restored until Misty placed her reassuring hand on his hand under the table and smiled. Though still somehow confused about what had transpired, Ash decided to let it go, since everyone else seemed to be okay with it. Delia returned to the kitchen while the animated conversation about pokemon resumed at the table. It was as if Gary's mention of Team Rocket had never occurred. 

All the while, Peachy and Pikachu were rolling around the floor trying to pin the other down to establish ownership of the already consumed cookie or for the sake of self defense. Contrary to Purry, Peachy was generally friendly and only became territorial and possessive when there was food involved. As the second batch of cookies began to be consumed, Peachy bolted back towards the table with Pikachu calling after her, demanding an explanation. Frustrated to be ignored, Pikachu let out a low voltage electric charge that was not meant to pick a fight, but to get Peachy's attention. At that very moment, Ash decided to look over to see what the two yellow pokemon were doing and caught Pikachu in what appeared to be a surprise attack on the back. "Pikachu, what are you doing?"

"Pi pika chu!" Pikachu defended himself pointing his accusing paw at Peachy. 

Peachy pouted and looked into Ash's eyes, ignoring the small painless jolt of electricity that barely tickled. She moved her ears down and gave him a sad expression. This was something she did when convincing humans to give her food. "Aw," instantly feeling sorry for her, Ash picked up Peachy and offered her a cookie. "It's okay, don't cry." He looked at Pikachu with disapproval, "what was that for? You're usually better behaved than this."

"Chu! Pi pika chu!" Pikachu argued to no avail. Ash offered Peachy another cookie which she happily ate as well. For the time being, she seemed comfortable sitting on Ash's lap as long as he kept feeding her. Pikachu kept pouting in exasperation until he saw Peachy... did she just wink? Was she just playing before? Of all the confusing things to do...

Though Peachy wasn't particularly violent, Purry was rather aggressive. Pyro liked to glomp and cling to just about any female he laid eyes upon. Then there was the fact that at times Pixel literally threw Peachy into battle, giving her an edge by allowing her to attack from above. She also often slept with Peachy as if she was a plush toy, rolling around and somehow not causing Peachy to wake up. To summarize, a bit of rough treatment was nothing but harmless playfulness for Peachy, who saw little difference between a hug and a tackle. Thus despite being indeed possessive of food, in the end she was only playing.

Delia returned with the dishes and utensils just as the cookies ran out. The cake was served and she rejoined the group at the table. The conversation remained on the topic of pokemon and Team Rocket didn't come up again. There was a story about a three on three battle involving Jessie and James. That story also told the tale of how Pyro evolved from a Charmander to the Charmeleon he now was. Delia, Ash and Misty suspected the story was edited in terms of how it came to be, but kept all the real elements of the battle itself. Gary had no suspicions about it, since as far as he knew, Team Rocket was ancient history for Jessie, James and apparently also for Pixel.

xoxox xox xoxox

Comet and Pixel stepped out of the elevator after his origin was revealed to him. He was quiet for a moment before finally asking, "why did you name your pokemon?"

Pixel didn't really expect the question and her answer was a rather simple one. "Because I felt like it, I suppose and it's kind of cute. Besides, it felt more original to give them names than to call them by their species. Calling them by their species would be convenient and maybe even necessary for someone who intends to catch many. I never planned on having many and I'm satisfied with what I have now. One that's tech because you know I like technology, one that's electric to provide power for electronics, and one that can fly for easy transportation. That's what I thought, practicality, but somewhere along the way I got attached to them."

Comet was surprised at just how familiar it all felt. He knew Pixel didn't like what she described as an anti-climatic history and thus insisted that the past was nothing. Though she did consider the future, she was happiest living the moment. He had always lived the moment before, he could continue doing so. "I think I'm going to name mine." He paused in front of his room's door, where he had automatically headed. He entered followed by Pixel and they both sat down on his bed. The sheets were a simple dark blue with a big Blastoise shaped pillow that he had for years.

"What will you name them?" Pixel inquired, not asking about the seemingly sudden choice to name them. She had an idea where Comet's decision came from. 

Comet thought for a moment before concluding, "I guess it's not really the name that matters but what's attached to it." To name them wasn't really a necessary action. It was the training and appreciation that went to the pokemon that truly mattered, as he had learned from his father, Luke. "I'll still do it though, something cool." He took Gyarados' pokeball in his hand, "Shenron, just like that legendary super long green Gyarados that grants wishes when the seven magical orange pokeballs are collected in that show."

Pixel chuckled, "it's a classic!"

"Scyther will be..." Comet paused in thought, holding the pokeball in his other hand. The blades Scyther had, reminded him of the blades of legends such as the Master Sword, Masamune, Dual Blade, Reverse Blade, Espelancer, Elsydeon and others, but they didn't seem to fit. That last one reminded him of something else, "Rykros, after the original." 

"Another classic," Pixel agreed. 

Though they were inside their pokeballs, the pokemon could still hear what was being spoken around them. "Is that okay with you two? I guess if you're not popping out to protest, its fine," Comet concluded.

"So... go on, say everything that's on your mind, as if this was a verbal blog. Get it out of your system," Pixel grinned, reading Comet as easily as she would read a computer codes.

xoxox xox xoxox

After the brief stop and the pokemon naming, Comet and Pixel went to find Giovanni. They found him at the gym's arena just as he was finishing off another relatively easy battle against a Rocket grunt. On the side of the arena, there were another four Rocket agents, also in uniform. They were Jessie, James, Cassidy and Butch. After the grunt excused himself and left, Jessie and Cassidy started to loudly argue about who would battle the boss next. 

While the next battle was delayed due to the argument, Comet approached Giovanni with his request. "Boss, I want to be added to the investigation of three and ten." The words were direct, to the point and not particularly revealing to anyone who didn't already know what it was about.

"Me too," Pixel added.

Giovanni observed them both, "that is still in the tracking stage," he didn't want to make an obvious move that would make number three and ten harder to catch by going into hiding. Or they could also react by suddenly becoming more active upon feeling threatened. That could bring numerous casualties that would not only upset Delia, but possibly cause trouble for Team Rocket's general operations.

Number three wasn't much of a problem in terms of power anymore. He was old, much older than the time that had actually passed. However, that gave some of his victims the opportunity to escape and live to tell the tale. Though the legendary Bloody Killer was about to die, he would go after getting a lot of attention. For the time being, the police were waiting it out, occasionally moving to try to catch him when he was weak. Thus far, he had evaded the authorities. As for number ten, that was another story. He was still a young adult, still in his prime, he was inhumanly strong and dangerous. Team Rocket had been on the look out for him since he disappeared from the lab. So far they had no significant clues, not even from interrogating Iblis.

Giovanni finally gave a more direct reply to the two Rockets. "You can join if you win a battle. All of you will battle three on three." After battling so many grunts, Giovanni was tired of battles he could easily win and opted instead for a little entertainment. He raised his voice for the last sentence; it was enough to silence Jessie and Cassidy. Jessie and James were just there for a brief visit to take care of some minor routine business at the Viridian headquarters. They didn't expect to find the boss taking on challengers and were quick to volunteer.

Jessie, James, Cassidy and Butch quickly became aware of their situation, though they were not sure how it came about. Apparently, they would need to divide themselves into two teams of three people each. Comet and Pixel were on the same team. The realization sunk in for Jessie, that she might end up stuck in a team with Cassidy if either James or Butch was chosen as the third teammate for their opponents. With that in mind, Jessie bolted across the earth arena and stood between Comet and Pixel with her arms around their shoulders. "Teammates?" She gave them a big grin.

Comet decided to go along with it, "sure."

James' eyes widened in realization, "I don't want to be on the same team as these two!" He protested with great agony.

"Enough," Giovanni made it clear that he was not in the mood for further stalling, "begin the battle, three on three."

"My money's on Jessie's team," Meowth commented from the side lines as the trainers took their positions. It only made James pout more and give Jessie a sad face.

"Take it like a Rocket!" Jessie called out in response from the other side of the arena. Six red beams were unleashed almost in perfect unison. Six shapes appeared, three on each side of the earth arena, and the battle commenced.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 92: Give me Accomplishments

Six red beams had invaded the Viridian gym arena for the three on three battle. The confrontation would decide if Comet and Pixel would join the investigation about number three and number ten or not. The teams consisted of Comet, Pixel and Jessie, versus James, Cassidy and Butch. Each trainer had called upon one of their pokemon. Jessie's Seviper, Comet's Scyther, recently named Rykros and Pixel's as of yet to evolve Charmander, Pyro, composed one team. The other team consisted of James' Carnivine, Cassidy's Houndour and Butch's Migthyena.

Pouting deeply and making a sad face, James complained once more before the battle began. "I really don't want to be in the same team as Cassidy and Batch!"

"It's Butch!" The Rocket agent whose name people often changed complained.

James had no reply for the correction, since he soon became busy trying to pry Carnivine off his face. The pokemon had become stronger over time and so had her grip, much to James' pain. 

Pyro observed the scene and decided it was as good a time as ever to follow the example and go hug his own trainer. He quickly attached himself to Pixel's leg, while she tried to shake him off. "Let go, we have a battle to take care of!" She tried to pry him off a bit too hard with her long blue fingernails accidentally digging into his skin in the human version of a scratch attack.

Pyro whimpered, though he still didn't let go, since he was following Carnivine's example and she had not let go. It might have been an early random mood swing, despite her condition not yet showing, but Jessie felt compassion for the Charmander and decided to try to help Pixel get him off before she accidentally hurt him. The red haired woman succeeded in pulling the fire pokemon off his trainer, but it backfired. Finding himself in Jessie's arms, Pyro lashed on to her neck and snuggled into her chest. At the other side of the arena, a strangely jealous James witnessed the scene while turning blue from lack of oxygen.

Since Giovanni was looking impatient, the trainers who were not dealing with pokemon troubles went on the attack. "Houndour, use flame thrower on Scyther!" Cassidy shouted.

The command was backed by Butch who ordered, "Migthyena, use take down after Houndour's attack."

Their plan was obviously for Houndour to weaken Scyther and make him lose altitude with the fire. Then Migthyena would charge in to finish him off. "Rykros, quick attack!" Comet called out to his pokemon, watching as he skillfully dodged the flames that were thrown at him as he approached Houndour. When Rykros was close enough, Comet saw and opening and called out, "giga impact!" Rykros quickly changed his pace from flying in rapid zigzags, to a more direct upper approach. He gained a little altitude before slamming his scythe down on Houndour's head. It would have been fatal if not for Houndour's hard skull, which Comet also took into consideration. However, the attack was enough to leave Houndour in a daze before Comet warned, "up!" Rykros quickly flew out of the way, narrowly avoiding Migthyena's take down attack.

Houndour and Migthyena stayed close to each other after that, watching each other's backs. Comet knew that another opportunity like the one that was just cut short, would not present itself so easily. The thought was further confirmed by Cassidy's next order, "Houndour, snap out of it and jump on Migthyena's back."

Once Houndour was on Migthyena's back, Butch followed up on the plan, "jump as high as you can!" Migthyena obeyed with some difficulty due to the extra weight, giving Houndour some extra impulse.

Houndour in turn jumped when Migthyena was in the air and followed Cassidy's next instruction, "fire blast!" 

"U turn!" It was a risky move, but Comet had to get Rykros out of the line of fire fast. He also wasn't about to waste the opportunity to get an attack in on Migthyena when he saw an opening. Rykros swung down below Houndour and passed by between him and Migthyena. The bug pokemon held out his scythe to slash at Migthyena. Rykros was soon back in the air on the other side after making a U shape in mid air. It all happened in a split second as Houndour fell on top of the surprised and pained Migthyena, who didn't have time to get out of the way.

"Get out there and fight or I'm sending you to the experimentation lab after I beat you to a bloody puddle!" Pixel yelled at Pyro. She wouldn't really do that, but she was angry at him for embarrassing her in front of the boss. Pyro whimpered and loosened his grip on Jessie long enough for Pixel to grab him. The blue haired girl then literally threw him into the battle field, where he landed face first with a loud undignified thump. 

Jessie gasped and pointed at the fallen, but still conscious Charmander. She turned her head towards Giovanni who was watching the show from the sidelines. She searched for any hints of disapproval, but he was quietly chuckling in an almost imperceptible way, as if he was amused. 

"What's his problem?" Pixel wondered with sincere confusion. "I've seen Purry jump down from much higher distances and land easily enough. Besides, whenever I throw Peachy like that, she makes good use of the opportunity to use a powerful thunderbolt in mid air. She never complains, she always looks like she's having fun."

"Purry is a feline," Comet pointed out, "and Peachy is... Peachy is special, with all the food she eats, all that energy must make her very strong." That was the same Pikachu that could be squeezed in a tight hug like a plush toy and be unconsciously used as a pillow by a sleeping Pixel without waking up until someone mentioned food. The good news about Pyro's entrance was that Rykros was given a moment to rest. The bad news was that Houndour and Migthyena were ganging up on the Charmander.

Jessie placed her hand on Pixel's shoulder like a mentor to a student, "you need to remember that Pikachu are virtually indestructible. You can't compare them to anything else."

Pixel nodded, "if you say so." She grew up as a computer geek, not a pokemon trainer. Thus she had by far the least experience in pokemon training out of all those present. She didn't obtain her first pokemon until she joined Team Rocket, right after graduating from college at the age of twenty-one. That left her with at least a decade less of experience than most of the others.

Jessie nodded and, free of the glomping Charmander, she sent her own pokemon into action. "Seviper, poison fang on Houndour!" The amount of venom in Jessie's voice was comparable to the attack itself. Seviper rushed forward to join the action.

Cassidy was quick to react, "Houndour, fire blast!" Before Houndour could respond, Pyro let out an ember attack at him. He was still a bit dazed from his entrance to the battle field and the small fire attack was not very effective in terms of damage. However, the attempt did serve as a distraction, delaying Houndour's counter attack long enough for Seviper to sink his fangs into Houndour's throat. With a sharp cry, Houndour stumbled even after Seviper let go, he was badly poisoned. 

Seeing Cassidy's angry face, Butch knew he better back her up soon, "Migthyena, knock out that troublesome little Charmander with take down!"

"Pyro, use flame thrower on Migthyena!" Pixel urged him to respond to the attack.

"Rykros!" Comet began to call out to his pokemon to back up Pyro if needed. He stopped upon realizing that Pyro was glowing.

Pyro was surrounded by a bright light. Before the light even faded, while his shape was still changing, he charged forward with a flame thrower attack that stopped the already injured Migthyena in his tracks. He ran around the dark pokemon and bit his tail, unleashing a breath of fire as he did. He had thought that he really would be abandoned, though Pixel wouldn't do that. He wanted to prove himself as more than just a flirt; he wanted to show he could be a competent companion. Letting out a loud pained cry, Migthyena started to run in circles around the arena with the recently evolved Charmeleon attached to his flaming tail. 

Cassidy growled in frustration and glared at James. He was on his knees at the sidelines, trying to catch his breath after his near death experience. Carnivine was still cuddling against him, though in a less deadly way. "Do something!" Cassidy yelled.

James jumped to his feet and tried to get Carnivine to battle. "Carnivine, go help Seviper fight Houndour!"

"Not that!" Cassidy reproached.

"Oh, right, sorry..." James backed away, "Carnivine, attack Seviper, let's get back at Jessie for abandoning us with Cassidy and Botch, leaf tornado!"

"It's Butch!" Migthyena's trainer corrected.

Confused with her trainer's contradicting commands, Carnivine decided to aim her attack at everyone. She spun around throwing leaves in a massive tornado that overtook the quarreling Seviper and Houndour. When the tornado ceased and the leaves cleared out, only the dizzy tangled up Seviper was still conscious. The poisoned Houndour had too much and lay knocked out near Seviper.

"You idiot!" Cassidy screamed in frustration, about to grab James by the neck. 

"Hey!" Jessie shouted from the other side of the earth arena, "you leave James alone! Meowth, fury swipes on Cassidy!"

Meowth, who had been witnessing the battle from the sidelines, jumped in surprise upon being called. "What? Me?"

"Now!" Jessie roared, leaving no room for argument.

"Yes, ma'am!" Meowth rushed out to James' rescue, baring his claws at Cassidy. At the last moment, Cassidy let go of James and pushed Butch towards Meowth. The man stumbled forward, falling on top of the pokemon, causing Meowth to drop the attempted attack. "Get him off! Get him off! I'm being flattened by Betch!"

"It's Butch!" He complained again as he tried to get back on his feet.

"I think this battle's as good as won, Rykros, but just in case, charge up a hyper beam," Comet instructed his pokemon. Rykros had since flown over to his trainer, hovering near by as the battle played out, waiting for the next move to make. Comet whispered something, to which Rykros nodded. He flew across the battle field, exchanging a few quiet words with Carnivine, before flying up high. He prepared to fire the hyper beam from above on Comet's signal.

Migthyena had finally freed himself from Pyro's grip on his poor abused tail. The dark pokemon whimpered as he licked his burnt and bitten tail. Charmeleon stood proud, happy that he had evolved, waiting for the command to finish the battle. Seviper was still somewhat busy untangling himself from the knot Carnivine's attack had left him in. At least the long poison pokemon was almost free. 

"Well done Pyro, finish him off with a fire blast!" Pixel encouraged. Exhausted from all the punishment he had received, Migthyena whimpered and flopped to the side before Pyro could let out his attack. "No way," Pixel found it suspicious. Cassidy didn't believe it either if her yelling at Migthyena to get up was any indication. "Stay on your guard, Pyro. Keep that fire blast ready just in case and attack if Migthyena moves." Pyro nodded and stood ready. Migthyena didn't move, so he didn't use the attack, but he kept the fire on standby anyway.

"That just leaves Carnivine; let's finish this Rykros, hyper beam!" Comet called out to his pokemon to carry out their plan. Seviper finally got untangled and considered helping Carnivine since they were friends, but stopped, witnessing the scene. The hyper beam collided with the battle arena ground below and apparently with Carnivine. The grass pokemon moved her left leaf arm as if clutching her heart, with her right leaf dramatically over her head. With an agonized gasp that she shouldn't have had time to make, she collapsed where the burn mark of the hyper beam on the ground was.

Seviper blinked and slithered over to join his teammates, Rykros and Pyro. They seemed to have decided to do a victory pose to further emphasize their triumph. The pose was actually not part of the plan. Charmeleon spun around and held out his right arm, with two claws forming a V shape. Rykros flipped in the air, then landed next to Pyro, raising one of his scythes in victory. Improvising, Seviper coiled up like a spring and hopped, then stretched out tall and proud on Pyro's other side. The three winning pokemon stayed that way for a moment until Seviper lost his balance and fell on Pyro. The newly evolved fire pokemon then fell on Rykros, leaving the winning team like a pile of dominoes.

"That was not my idea," Comet felt the need to express his disclaimer for the silliness. He chuckled in amusement none the less.

"The battle is over," Giovanni announced officially.

The certified acknowledgement of the end of the match made James react. He had been staring at the unmoving Carnivine anxiously because she was yet to even twitch after she dramatically fainted. He rushed to her side with worry, apparently being the only one present who didn't realize that the hyper beam had purposely missed. Carnivine knew James didn't really want Cassidy and Batch, Botch or Betch, whatever his name was, to win. Thus she took the fall to end the battle, which was looking favorable for Jessie and her teammates anyway. "Carni-" James couldn't even finish his worried statement before Carnivine tackled him in another bone crushing, suffocating affectionate hug.

"That's cheating!" Cassidy stammered, "Migthyena didn't faint and neither did Carnivine! They should both be able to battle... Houndour too!" She looked at Houndour, whom she had not yet recalled. Her pokemon was just beginning to stir. Migthyena looked pretty beat up and would probably take a while to recover.

"Unable to battle or unwilling to battle, either way, you lose," Giovanni spoke and no one dared to question him. "Cassidy, Botch, clean up the arena," he ordered.

Cassidy considered protesting, but wisely decided against it, "yes, boss." Butch frowned but didn't dare to correct Giovanni in the incorrect use of his name.

Jessie cheered, feeling especially accomplished that they had beaten Cassidy. James was still busy trying to get Carnivine to let him go, while all the others recalled their pokemon. The trainers gave their respective pokemon a few words of gratitude for a good battle, except Butch, who remained silent and Cassidy, who kept grumbling and growling in frustration.

xoxox xox xoxox

It was after that three on three battle that Comet and Pixel hung out with Laiki for a while. Then the three of them ended up going to Pallet Town to see Delia. After Ash and Comet's battle and some yummy sweets from Delia, it was almost evening. 

"We should get going soon," Delia gently noted.

"Yes," Ash was smiling as if any left over tension was completely gone after having such a good time with everyone. He was now looking forward to seeing his father again. 

"Going somewhere?" Gary curiously asked.

"Yeah, we're going to..." Ash paused looking for a truthful but not too revealing reply, "to Giovanni's place for a while."

"I see," Gary smiled, he was aware of Delia's relationship with the Viridian gym leader, everyone was, even if no one knew of Ash's true connection. "Have fun," he was sincerely glad that Ash was adapting to the whole situation so well.

"We should get going too," Pixel reminded. She had a technology related conference to attend at Razzo Albergo. She intended to travel to Cerulean City by train, although it wasn't really open to the public. None the less, Rockets sometimes got a ride with the crew of Antilles Oceanus' cargo train that went all across Kanto. The conference was not required, nor was it Rocket business, but Pixel thought it might bring some useful knowledge. She would go as a civilian and keep her link to Team Rocket hidden from the other attendees.

Comet remembered Pixel mentioning her plans earlier and knew what she was getting at. Besides, Ash and Delia were going to meet Giovanni soon anyway. "Yeah, it was fun."

"Absolutely!" Laiki squealed in delight. 

After saying their goodbyes, Delia decided to go talk to Professor Oak for a few minutes before leaving, since she didn't see him earlier. Ash stayed behind talking to his new friends while Gary and Delia walked down the street to the Oak research lab.

The group of undercover Rockets recalled their pokemon into their pokeballs. Before leaving, Peachy tackled Pikachu to the ground harshly and gave him a slightly painful electric hug. Then she hurried over to Pixel and jumped into the red beam of her pokeball. Pikachu was left to figure out her farewell, but decided to take it with an open mind and think positive. Maybe they would meet again sometime soon. 

"I should head back to Cerulean City," Misty thought aloud. Ash would probably need some time alone with his parents to sort things out and she wanted to give him that. 

"I'm heading to Cerulean too, I wonder if they'll let you on the train," Pixel mused.

Laiki nodded in affirmation, "other people have been allowed on the train before. It should be fine." There was nothing secret on the above ground train. It was just regular cargo for the most part, plus the crew area.

"What train?" Misty inquired in curiosity.

"The Antilles Oceanus train, it will be leaving from Viridian to Cerulean soon," Pixel replied. "It's a cargo train, but people can ride in the crew wagon."

"If you're sure they'll let me get on, that sounds like a good way to get back home," Misty agreed. She looked at Ash with encouragement in her eyes, "call me later, when you can, alright?"

Ash smiled back, "I will." After a few more words were exchanged between the group, Ash watched the brown car disappear in the horizon away from Pallet Town. Misty had joined Comet, Pixel and Laiki, since she would be riding the Antilles Oceanus train from Viridian to Cerulean City along with Pixel. 

For the moment, Ash was left alone in the Pallet House with his pokemon. He considered catching up to his mom and talking to Professor Oak, but decided that he would talk to him after he sorted things out with his father. Ash and Delia's pokemon were all in the house since she would be back in a few minutes anyway. Swablu had fallen asleep in one of the restaurant's chairs.

Ash petted Pikachu, who had climbed back on to his shoulders. "I somehow feel like I've accomplished something." He didn't know what it was he accomplished, but he had conquered his doubts and was ready to face the truth that lay before him.

xoxox xox xoxox

Gary had gone to tend to a few things around the Oak land. He began to serve the pokemon some dinner so that he wouldn't be out too late feeding the many pokemon that lived there. Delia had gone to talk to Samuel, who had previously been caught up in a few articles in the lab. He had focused on his research so much that he lost track of time. Delia reassured him that everything was progressing very well, for which the elderly professor was sincerely pleased in the end.

After talking to Samuel, Delia returned home, where she knew Ash was waiting. As she walked, she thought she heard something from beyond the brick fence around the Oak land, but disregarded it. More noises followed and she distinguished Gary's voice yelling for someone to stop. Perplexed, she halted and listened for any other suspicious sounds coming from beyond the red brick fence. She looked towards the Pallet House. From her angle, she couldn't see Ash behind the structure, though she knew he was there. Of course, he couldn't see her either.

Suddenly, a human shape jumped over the fence and landed in front of Delia. She could still hear Gary's voice yelling for someone to come out of hiding. He must have been chasing the person in front of her, but he slipped away. The man looked to be around Comet's age. His eyes were the same brilliant blue of Comet's eyes and his hair, albeit longer, was the same red color. His clothes had tares that indicated he might have been running through the wilderness recently and unidentified blood stains. Delia's face revealed her realization, "you're..." she gasped. The being that Delia theorized was the missing number ten stared right at her, tensing at the sound of her voice. 

Delia remained completely still so as to not frighten him. He didn't seem quite as aggressive as Giovanni described. She then realized it must have been Iblis' doing and suddenly it all made sense. Giovanni had told her about Iblis' capture and the fruitless interrogation about number ten's whereabouts. Delia didn't know what to expect. If Iblis had given him some kind of training or hypnotized him, it would make perfect sense that he was after Delia. But what was he instructed to do? Would he go through with it?

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," Delia tried to soothe the being before her. Though his features were human, there was something very different about him. The way he jumped over the fence was something else to consider, his physical capabilities were beyond those of even a very well trained human. "You'll be alright, we can help you." She wasn't sure what to do or say to keep him calm, she wasn't even sure if he was capable of understanding her at all.

Suddenly, Gary emerged from the house and went down the stairs. He arrived at the street and spotted Delia a few steps away. Before he could even say anything, his mere presence caused number ten to become more aggressive, since Gary had yelled at him before. Number ten charged past Delia at Gary as the young researcher hurried to call out a pokemon. "No!" Delia's sudden loud voice turned number ten's attention back to her. Instead of trying to rip Gary to shreds, he hurried towards Delia and picked her up. With Delia harshly thrown over his shoulder, number ten made his escape.

"Let her go!" Gary released Fearow from his pokeball and jumped on the pokemon's back in pursuit of the kidnapper.

All the noise alerted Ash that something was wrong. He hurried to the street just as number ten dashed past him at an inhuman speed, carrying a screaming Delia. "Mom!" Ash quickly released Charizard from his pokeball and jumped on his back, joining Gary in the pursuit.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 93: Give me Empathy

Number ten was moving incredibly fast, quickly heading out of Pallet Town and towards an area with more abundant flora where he could hide. It was the beginning of the extended Viridian Forest. Ash and Gary continued the pursuit, but unfortunately lost sight of Delia among the trees and bushes. They followed her voice as far as they could, until the echo became silent. They called out to her, but there was no answer. 

With no clue about which way to go, Charizard and Fearow landed. "Who was that? Where was he taking her?" Ash demanded to know.

"I don't know," Gary truthfully replied, "I was getting started setting out the pokemon's dinner when I saw someone. I thought it might be a thief, so I chased him, but he got away. I was going out to warn the townspeople that there was someone suspicious around, then I saw him down the street. Before I could even call out a pokemon he grabbed Delia and ran. No one is that fast, this makes no sense!"

Ash clenched his fists in frustration. "I have to get her back!" He didn't even know where to begin, then a thought occurred to him, 'Team Rocket.' Maybe that unknown red haired man was an enemy of Team Rocket. He seemed somehow familiar, but he moved so fast that neither Ash nor Gary could get a good look at him. "I'm taking mom's pokemon with me. Except Swablu, since she's too young. She's still back at the restaurant, take care of her for me, okay?" The pokemon, except the babies, had been recalled into their pokeballs a few minutes earlier, since everyone would soon be leaving the Pallet House. Ash had automatically taken the belt where his mother's pokeballs were when he took off on Charizard. His mother must have intended to put it on when she came back from talking to Professor Oak, since it would only be a few minutes. He put the pokeball belt on along with his own.

"Wait, what are you going to do? Do you have any idea who that was? We need to call the police!" Gary exclaimed. He didn't even bother arguing that a trainer shouldn't carry more than six pokemon at a time, that detail wasn't really important at the moment. 

"No!" Ash snapped, "don't call the police." He looked into Gary's eyes, "trust me, it's best to leave them out of this. Go back to Pallet Town, take care of Swablu and keep the town safe. Please Gary, leave this to me."

"I know you're hiding something," Gary sourly concluded. "I also know when it's no use arguing with you. I'll go back, but whatever it is you're planning to do, be careful and call me if you need help."

"Thank you," Ash agreed, though he had no intentions of calling Gary and getting him involved. It was strange to think about it, but he would have Team Rocket to back him up if he needed it. The thought also made him feel frustrated at the possibility of that man being an enemy of Team Rocket, who had kidnapped his mother because he knew of his father's true identity. It was the images the mysterious Persian, Givan, showed him which made Ash keep his temper in check. He hurried the rest of the way to the heart of Viridian City. Gary went in the opposite direction back to Pallet Town.

It only took Charizard a few minutes to reach the Viridian gym. Giovanni was coincidentally making his way to his red car in the parking. Needless to say, he didn't expect Ash to suddenly arrive on a Charizard. Giovanni could only stare at the young man's expression, which held anger, frustration, urgency and fear all at once.

xoxox xox xoxox

While so many events were taking place in Viridian City and Pallet Town, at Giovanni's mansion, Persian was bored. He had been feeling tired lately, but simply wasn't in the mood to sleep anymore. He had done nothing but sleep ever since he was left in the mansion. He only woke up occasionally to the mansion's chef fussing about how he needed to eat something nutritious to get better. His head hurt, his nose was stuffy, he wasn't in the mood to deal with people. To top it all up, the classy pokemon couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.

Desperate for some fresh air, Persian snuck out of the mansion. He knew that his father would disapprove of him going off on his own, but he really needed a break. Besides, even if he was feeling sick, he refused to believe it was related to the beginnings of that deadly virus he had heard humans talking about. Furthermore, just because he mostly sat beside his father while his other pokemon did most of the battling, didn't mean he couldn't battle. He was confident that he could defend himself just fine, not that he expected anyone to attack him anyway. He would just go for a walk and return to the mansion after he cleared his head. In and out, no one would notice.

Persian climbed over the fence, with more effort than it would have normally taken him in full health. He walked further and further away from the mansion. He looked back over his shoulder; he was away from the mansion but couldn't get rid of the feeling of being watched. He shrugged it off and kept walking. 

He was in the Victory Road area when a rock flew out of no where and hit him on the head. The rock was relatively small and rounded so it caused little damage, but Persian was angry. 'Who threw that?' He demanded to know with a hiss.

A loud roar answered his question as an angry Ursaring came into view. The pokemon was very unusual in that area. That particular Ursaring had been trained by a human before, but was now wild. His trainer lost his first pokemon to the illness that had tainted the east of Kanto and was spreading towards the west and to Johto. Seeking different medical help, the trainer had journeyed to Johto, with the esteemed starter pokemon finally passing away when they stopped in the Viridian Pokemon Center.

Ursaring's past trainer had continued towards Johto heartbroken, before finally deciding upon releasing his current team. One of those pokemon was Ursaring. Some were sick and others were not, but the trainer didn't want to risk infecting any of his other pokemon that were awaiting his return in his home of New Bark Town. Ursaring felt abandoned, he was healthy, but he was still thrown away on the possibility that he might be ill, albeit not yet showing it. Furthermore if he truly was ill, living in the wild would have been difficult. Ursaring felt betrayed and frustrated, he was furious. 

Ursaring couldn't harm his trainer whom he still thought of as a precious person, so he let him go and took out his anger on some boulders. Then, out of seemingly no where, a Persian hissed at him. Ursaring lost his temper further and picked up a large boulder, throwing it at Persian.

Persian quickly dodged the boulder, but soon another came. Ursaring kept throwing every boulder he could get his paws on and Persian was starting to feel tired. He could barely dodge in his condition, let alone get an attack in.

'Stop it!' A blur suddenly jumped out from behind some near by rocks. Purry had been watching Persian the whole time, keeping herself well hidden. Over time she had become an expert in the art of stalking him. She debated if she should reveal herself or not, since she had the distinct appearance of an alley pokemon. The contrast with Persian's refined look was too great. None the less, all things aside, she couldn't let him get hurt. Purry jumped towards the Ursaring with her claws out, aiming for the throat.

The large brown pokemon was caught by surprise upon realizing that the Meowth was seriously trying to badly injure him, if not kill him. Ursaring lost his grip on the bolder he held over his head ready to throw it. The large rock hit him on the head, falling at his feet after the impact. Ursaring hollered in pain at the impact of the stone and furthermore upon feeling a stab on his chest that was far too sharp to belong only to a Meowth's claws, however fierce the Meowth may be. He then noticed that the fiery Meowth had used her charm as a weapon; the golden coin was cut to a point and sharpened. Fortunately, his thick fur and built prevented any fatal injuries. 

The Ursaring tried to defend himself in his pained dazed state, but found he couldn't move fast enough. That Meowth was incredibly fast and strong. With a rapid succession of slashes, Purry finally forced her large opponent into unconsciousness. The Ursaring would live, but he would certainly never forget that battle. He would have never guessed such a small pokemon could possess such aggressive power.

With the battle won, Purry froze and slowly looked over to where Persian should have been. He wasn't there. She sighed sadly, 'he ran away, he probably thinks I'm a monster.' Worried that he might run into more trouble, Purry was quick to follow her beloved's scent. 

xoxox xox xoxox 

Persian didn't know what that Ursaring's problem was and he didn't know where that fierce Meowth came from. He did know when it was time to leave. Curious as he was about the fight, as much as he wanted some answers, he concluded it was best to leave those two alone. Besides, the mansion staff might have noticed that he was gone and they would be running around in desperation looking for him in no time. Deciding that he had enough adventure for the time being, Persian headed back to the mansion. 

During his walk back, he noted that the feeling of being observed was gone. It was that way for a while, until his instinct once again alerted him that he was being watched. He decided to ignore it and keep going. He had left Victory Road and was in the area between it and Viridian City, where trees and flora were abundant. He found that he had lost his way, but knew the mansion had to be near by, hidden in the tall, lush vegetation. He resolved to climb up a tree and have a better look.

Persian saw a tree with some conveniently arranged branches. He could easily jump from one to another without worrying about losing his balance due to the dizziness that was overtaking him. Even more convenient, he saw a smaller tree near that big one. He would use that small tree, with its easy to reach branches, to climb up to the lowest branch of the larger tree. Then he would follow the ladder-like structure of that big tree until he was high enough to see the roof of the mansion among the vegetation.

With his mind set on the plan, Persian began to climb the small tree with his claws out. The tree was most displeased upon the uncalled for attack and quickly threw Persian off. Dazed, the classy pokemon blinked trying to clear his somewhat blurry vision. He had been thinking about the feeling of being watched in the back of his mind and didn't even notice that there was a Sudowoodo sleeping while standing, right in front of him.

Tired of being pushed around, Persian tried to prepare for a fight. He showed his claws and hissed as menacingly as he could. His tail was momentarily up straight and his eyes gained some focus. Unfortunately, he was soon invaded by another wave of dizziness stronger than before. To make matters worse, Sudowoodo was on the attack with wood hammer.

As Sudowoodo's arm came down on Persian, Purry jumped out of the bushes, biting the branch that dared to attack her beloved. The Sudowoodo flailed around trying to get the Meowth off. She let him go at the right moment, being flung into a tree. Instead of crashing into the tree, Purry pushed off it and tackled Sudowoodo with her claws out. The tree shaped rock pokemon tried to mimic the attack, but his strength was in no way comparable to the fierce Meowth. Clearly overpowered, the Sudowoodo ran away as fast as he could.

Purry didn't chase after her opponent; instead she looked at Persian to see how he was doing. She gasped as she saw that he was laying on the ground, breathing heavily with his eyes closed in pain. He must really be sick and shouldn't be out there. She heard some rustling in the bushes and instantly tensed up.

A tall pokemon with dark fur came out of the bushes. Purry looked into her green eyes noticing she wasn't hostile. The pokemon stood upright much like a human, with a long violet mane that went from her head, falling almost to her ankles. Needless to say, it was very unusual to see a Zoroark in Kanto. The Zoroark approached the Meowth and the Persian, observing the Persian. 'He is ill,' she spoke in the pokemon language. 'I can help him.'

'Can you, really?' Purry was taken by surprise. There was something different about this pokemon, the way she carried herself was unlike anything Purry had seen before. It wasn't simply that she was of a species that Purry had never met before, it was something more.

The Zoroark nodded, 'yes.' She extended her paw placing it gently over Persian's head and focused. His eyes were closed tightly and he was unaware of his surroundings due to the heavy dizziness that had overtaken him. Zoroark glowed as she willed the sick pokemon to sleep with the power of rest. Persian fell into a deep slumber, with his breathing becoming calm and even. 'Let him rest, he will be alright soon.'

Zoroark started to leave but Purry called after her, 'wait, who are you? How is it that you can heal with rest, like this? That power wasn't like a normal rest; I could somehow sense it was different.'

Zoroark shook her head, 'I'm not certain about that myself, but I can tell you this, I'm not who I used to be.'

It was clear that the Zoroark wasn't going to stay and tend to the Meowth's curiosity about her mysterious abilities. Purry decided not to bother her and just be grateful, 'thank you for healing him.'

Zoroark nodded in acknowledgement and promptly left. She always visited Kanto in the fall; she didn't expect to find anything or anyone waiting for her. She had long since forgotten what was it that drove her to travel to Kanto every year. It was something she had been doing for as long as she could remember, every fall she would sneak into the Viridian Forest and spend a day there before going off to explore other areas. Sometimes bits and pieces of memories reemerged, but she had stopped trying to bring them to the surface completely.

She always made sure to stay away from humans. Sometimes her presence in the Viridian Forest would be noticed, especially in the recent years. The forest was well guarded. Someone would try to catch her, but they would always fail. Thus Zoroark headed towards Viridian as she always did once a year.

xoxox xox xoxox

Some time later, Persian slowly opened his eyes feeling well rested. The fatigue of sickness was gone, his breathing was normal and his balanced had fully returned. He didn't know how it was even possible, considering how he felt before, but he was somehow fully healed. He remembered the Sudowoodo and the Meowth, but neither seemed to be anywhere in sight. He did feel like he was being watched though. He wondered if the one who had been watching him was that Meowth all along. If that was so, then how did she get into the mansion? He held no memories of the Zoroark, since he was so out of it when she was there. 

He got to his feet and decided to resume his trip back to the mansion. He would still have to climb a tree to see which way he should go. Fortunately, he was once again alert enough to easily tell the difference between a tree and a pokemon. Persian was about to climb a tree when he heard some growling near by. The sound was angry and it was not similar to any sound he had heard a pokemon make. It sounded somewhat human-like, but at the same time distinctly not.

The source of the unpleasant growls soon came into view. Number three was no longer to be left alone as an urban legend. Neither Team Rocket nor the police pretended he didn't exist anymore. He was like a cornered wild pokemon trying to escape. As a result of the modifications made to age him to an adult years ago, he had continued to age at a fast pace. His old clothes were stained and ripped with blood sticking to nearly every inch of his body. Beneath the layer of blood, his skin was harsh in a barely perceptible dark tan that was hidden by the dark red tint of the dry blood. His dirty hair looked red due to the blood in it; albeit in truth it barely had any red left in it, as it had mostly turned gray in time. The only truly recognizable feature that the Bloody Killer shared with his genetic relatives, were his blue eyes.

'What in the world is that?' Persian stared at the creature that appeared to be somewhat human, but at the same time not.

'It's bad, get out of here!' Purry jumped out of the bushes, ready to fight that creature.

'I knew you were following me!' Persian accused, 'just who do you think you are stalking me like that, you unrefined alley pokemon,' he huffed in indignation.

Purry froze at the disapproval, 'I... um... Just get out of here!'

Persian huffed in annoyance, 'fine, servant, I'll leave you to your little battle. You and that creature look similar enough so-' he was cut off by the Bloody Killer suddenly hurrying forward to grip the Persian's neck. The mutant was hungry after having to run and hide so much. He could feel himself growing weaker by the day and he couldn't allow that. Maybe a meal would make him feel better.

Purry jumped on the Bloody Killer, scratching and biting as hard as she could. She managed to make him let go of Persian, but he threw her against a tree. The force was so strong that she couldn't shift her body to push herself off it and slammed hard against the tree. Angered, number three didn't cease the attack on the fallen Meowth. He grabbed her by the tail and slammed her against the ground repeatedly.

Persian had caught his breath, even if he could still feel the sticky filth of that creature's grip around his neck. That thing was disgusting and Persian was very angry. He had no business with that shabby Meowth, but he wasn't going to let that thing get away with attacking him like that. The ruby on his forehead glowed brightly as he summoned his pay day attack. A multitude of coins collided with the mutant almost like bullets, leaving bruises and cuts all over him.

Purry slipped away from number three's grasp, pained, but still able to battle. It would take a lot more than that to make her faint. She had a long history of harsh battles. It all began with Team Rocket years ago. 

xoxox xox xoxox

It was a special training program for pokemon that was dropped due to the pokemon either failing or becoming too wild to control. The regimen didn't involve any power ups, only training. When the first and only instance of the program ended, only a few pokemon came out of it, Purry being one of them. She was trained to be an assassin, but she too had developed a rebellious, nearly insatiable, thirst for battle. Eventually she ran away and was forgotten, possibly thought of as dead.

After escaping from Team Rocket, Purry continued fighting one battle after another. Those who saw her feared her. She lived to fight and often found herself challenging other pokemon, even if she was vastly outnumbered. The constant battles and hardships led to many wounds along the way. Though she eventually recovered from all of them, she was left with many battle scars, visible through missing patches of fur. She also had a sharpened charm, which was done during her training to make it as deadly as the sharpest knife. 

It was during the start of her training with Team Rocket when Purry, back then a nameless Meowth, met another Meowth. The male Meowth was a little older than her, but still a child. He was perched on a human's shoulder, the human that was apparently the boss of all the other humans in that underground training facility where she had been born.

The small boy Meowth jumped off the human's shoulder, landing on his feet on the floor. He curiously approached the rows of cages were many other pokemon were kept. He saw that one of the cages contained a female of his species, a little younger than him. He scuffed at the mental comparison, they were nothing alike. In his curly tail he carried a small bag of gourmet pokemon treats he had taken along to snack on. He sat down, placing the bag in front of him and reaching in for a treat with his front paw.

'Why are you sad?' The voice took the male Meowth by surprise. He looked towards the young female in the cage who had spoken. 'Your trainer is clearly much kinder to you than mine is to me. I don't know why someone like you would be sad.'

'Mom left and dad tries not to show it but he's upset.' He stopped himself before he could say anything more. He threw his head back and looked away from the female of his species. 'It's none of your business, servant. Unlike you, I'm a high class pokemon. I can have everything I want. My father is the boss of this place, I'm not just his pokemon, I'm their son, mother said so.'

'It's too bad your mom left. I never met my parents,' the female Meowth replied.

'I said it doesn't matter!' The male hissed, 'mom will come back some day, dad's going to find her. I'm sure she'll come back if dad asks her to.' 

The young Meowth didn't know how right he was. But Giovanni didn't go after Delia; he didn't ask her to return even if he knew where she had gone. She had left with only a letter and no reason to run away like that could be big enough, in Giovanni's opinion. Many years would pass before he knew why she left, before he learned about Ash.

The female Meowth observed the male. She had seen him a few times with the human he called his father, the boss. 'I guess no one is safe from sadness,' she mused. She had thought he lived such a perfect life, but he didn't. 'At least you still have your father and you might see your mother again too. Cheer up, you'll be okay!'

'You're the one in a cage, servant pokemon, you're in no position to tell me to cheer up.' Frustrated and sad, the Meowth boy dashed away back to his father. He attempted to climb back on his shoulder, but Giovanni picked him up first, allowing him to easily jump on his shoulder again without having to climb all over him.

As Giovanni exited the lab with his little Meowth, the bag of treats was left forgotten on the floor. The female Meowth reached between the bars of her cage and stretched as far as she could, but was unable to reach it. She uncomfortably repositioned herself inside the small cage and reached out with her tail. Her tail was just long enough to reach the bag of treats. She reached into it taking one of the delicious treats in her small front paw. She put it in her mouth, savoring the taste; it was like nothing she had ever tasted before. 

She didn't know if the Meowth boy had truly forgotten his treats or if he just left them there. If he had left them, it was the first act of kindness she had ever received. Even if it had been an accident, none the less she wanted to be his friend. He was kind of bratty, but she could tell he was only that way because he missed his mother. Perhaps his father tried to make up for it by showering him with gifts. She could only imagine what his life might truly be like. 

The young Meowth girl decided that one day she would climb to the top of Team Rocket and stand by his side. It was just a childish crush, mixed with a wish for a better life and for a trainer that cared about her. Eventually, she would run away from the hardships of Team Rocket and wonder from one place to another all over Kanto for years. 

One night, after that little Meowth was all grown up, she met a girl wearing the emblem of Team Rocket. The girl didn't seem bad; she tried to talk to her, to negotiate a mutually beneficial agreement. She wasn't looking for a servant; she was looking for a partner. It was that girl, Pixel, who began to call the Meowth Purry. Upon returning to Team Rocket, Purry had the chance to see her first crush again. He was grown up into a handsome Persian more attractive than any other pokemon she had ever seen. The wish to be with him resurfaced stronger then ever. At least she controlled her thirst for battle as she began to get used to interacting with other living beings outside of a fight. 

Purry didn't expect Persian to realize who she was. She fully expected him to have forgotten their first meeting all those years ago. Either way it didn't matter, it didn't change anything. Purry was once again determined to make it to the top and stand by his side.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon or the other video games, anime series and movies referenced here. If you're curious about where the swords are from, here are the answers. Master Sword (Legend of Zelda, in practically every version), Masamune (Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Trigger, Sephiroth and Frog's swords respectively), Dual Blade (Lufia II and others in the Lufia series), Reverse Blade (Rurouni Kenshin), Espelancer (Legend of Heroes: Tear of Vermillion and others in the Gagharv trilogy), Elsydeon (Phantasy Star IV: End of the Millennium).


	28. Part 28

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 94: Give me Reliability

In the parking of the Viridian City gym, Ash's Charizard had just landed near Giovanni. Ash was still on the pokemon's back as he revealed the unexpected dilemma. "Mom's been kidnapped! It was some guy with red hair; I couldn't get a good look at him. He moved so fast, it's like he wasn't even human! I lost them in the forest."

The description fit perfectly, Ash had probably seen number ten. He had been taken by Iblis and might think of Delia as his target, even if he was more wild than rational. "I'll find them," just as Giovanni took his little Rocket cell phone, it rang in his hand. "Is this about Delia and ten?" He immediately asked, then listened to the report from the hidden cameras in the forest. "Don't let him get away!" Another call interrupted, Giovanni noticed on the cell phone screen that it was from Comet, marked as urgent.

xoxox xox xoxox

The crew wagon of the Antilles Oceanus train was quite comfortable. It was large and had plenty of space for the crew's belongings, snacks and so on. It had a couple of tables in the corner with cushioned booths to sit at. Pixel was taking the train to attend a conference in Cerulean City. Misty had boarded with her to return home. She was allowed in because of the link the Waterflowers now secretly shared with Team Rocket. Either way, the cargo of the above ground train held no secrets. 

Coincidentally, Jessie and James were on the train as well. They were heading back to Saffron City so they would remain on board past the Cerulean City stop. They would have to wait for the crew to take care of business with the cargo at Cerulean, but it didn't really matter. They had come armed with a handheld videogame, a deck of cards and enough snacks for the journey. Besides, it was free transportation and free things were not to be wasted. 

Laiki had gone off to visit Rex and Comet had decided to take a walk around Viridian City before returning to headquarters. He saw the bridge at the edge of the city under which the train would soon pass. He heard the engine as the train started moving out of Viridian City. It wouldn't fully speed up until it was out of the forest area. Coming from the thick forest, Comet spotted a most shocking sight. A man with red hair, holding some significant physical resemblance to himself was running with an unconscious Delia thrown over his shoulder. She had hit her head on a low hanging tree branch during number ten's get away.

Number ten froze upon seeing Comet running towards him. There was something about that particular human that seemed too familiar and it frightened him. Normally, his first instinct would be to destroy, but the woman he carried... there was a mental order telling him to take her to someone, except he didn't know where. The remnants of Iblis' attempt of hypnotism were blurry. Then there was that man running towards him, there was something different yet familiar about him. Number ten didn't like it, he had to get away. He jumped off the bridge and landed on top of the passing train below.

xoxox xox xoxox

Outside of the Viridian gym, "I found ten, he had Delia, they're on Gallade," Comet's voice came from Giovanni's cell phone sounding as if he was running as he spoke. The name of the train was the Green Gallade.

"Don't lose track of them!" Giovanni urged, "I'll be there soon." He sent a signal for his agents to head to the location. 

"Did they find mom? Are they getting her back? Where is she?" Ash questioned. It was odd to think of his mother as being safe if she was with Team Rocket.

"Not too far from here," Giovanni released Flygon from his pokeball and jumped on his back, "let's go."

"Right!" Ash followed Giovanni and Flygon on Charizard as they headed towards the train's tracks, following them to the train ahead.

xoxox xox xoxox

In the forest-like area surrounding Giovanni's mansion between Viridian City and Victory Road, Purry and Persian were facing the legendary Bloody Killer. After so many years had past, he no longer possessed all the power he became known for, even if he was still a very deadly opponent. The being growled and went on the attack again. Purry didn't think twice before jumping at the mutant creature with her claws bare. If he managed to push her away, she would get up and fight again.

'This is insane, what is that thing?' Persian was really regretting having gone out for a walk. He would find a way to communicate what had happened to his father. When he found out he would have all of Team Rocket out there to avenge him. 

Upon thinking about the situation further, Persian remembered certain things he overheard while half paying attention to the conversations Giovanni was having. That thing was one of the monsters Team Rocket was trying to capture. While the scruffy servant pokemon kept that creature busy, Persian would go and get help. More importantly, he would get someone to prepare a bubble bath for him and sponge off all the filth that stuck to his fur as a result of his annoying little adventure. 

With that plan in mind, Persian was about to follow his earlier decision of locating the mansion and running towards it as fast as he could. His dash was interrupted by Purry being thrown several feet away from her opponent, in front of Persian's path. Persian looked back at where the Bloody Killer was wiping away the blood that had fallen in his eyes from the scratches on his head. He seemed unable to completely open one of his eyes.

'Why are you still here?' Purry hissed, getting up once more despite her bruised state. She stumbled upon realizing that one of her hind legs was broken.

Persian shook his head, 'undignified uncivilized-'

'Move!' Purry tackled Persian out of the way of the Bloody Killer's charge. 

'Get off,' he growled, one more look at the wild creature that came towards them again was enough to make him stop arguing and climb up the nearest tree. 

Purry followed him up the tree, using mostly her front paws to get herself up. Number three was beginning to show signs of fatigue as he tried to climb up the tree and slipped back down. 'Look, we can see the mansion from up here,' she pointed at the portion of the structure's roof that was visible amidst the trees. 'I'll distract him and you can make a run for it.' She paused and glared, 'and I'm not a servant pokemon.'

'Of course you are,' Persian spoke smugly. He wasn't used to being in danger. The situation felt unreal, since he was accustomed to always being by Giovanni's side. Persian thought of his father as the most powerful human in the world, with many humans and pokemon at his command. He was always safe. 'Why else would you be doing all this?'

The Bloody Killer charged at the tree as if trying to knock it down. The tree, which was not one of the thickest around, shook every time the mutant collided with it. It's not like the two pokemon had time to be picky about which tree they climbed. Seeing the blood lust in the mutant's half closed glare, Persian could almost feel his strong grip again. The feeling of danger returned to him and he could no longer push it away. He was always safe with his father, but his father wasn't there.

'Because I... um... I kind of like you,' Purry admitted. This wasn't what she wanted. She was supposed to have evolved into a beautiful Persian before her beloved saw her. There she was, stuck in a tree, looking her worse, with a murderous monster trying to kill them; that was certainly not a romantic setting.

'Don't be ridiculous,' Persian growled as he moved through the branches, looking for the best way to jump to a different tree. He saw a steady branch and walked onto it, then jumped to a neighboring tree. That tree was larger and much sturdier than the first. 'I'm a high class pokemon, my father is the boss of Team Rocket, you have no right to say something like that.'

'Maybe not,' Purry jumped from the relatively small tree to the larger one, trying not to further damage her broken leg. She winced in pain, but refused to cry out, quickly regaining a serious face. 'Right now, like it or not, I'm your only hope. I'm not doing this because I have to, I don't have to and no one can make me. I'm helping you because I want to, no matter how much you may not like it, someone is having mercy on you.' 

It didn't matter anymore, even if by some miracle she evolved into a beautiful Persian, he had already seen her at her worse. He would not forget this, he would always think of her as a monster. She felt her eyes water, but this was no time to cry, it was time to fight. Maybe she could allow herself one last indulgence before she accepted the reality, she would never have him. It was just one last little pleasure, one that he would never forgive her for. 

Persian's eyes traveled to the growling creature at the base of the tree, trying to climb up. Number three climbed a considerable distance, but slipped off the tree and fell. As he hit the ground on his side, his arm twisted in an unnatural angle, adding to all the mistreatment it received when the mutant was ramming into the other tree. The creature growled and tried to pop his limp right arm back into place to no avail. 

Persian shuddered, distracted by the monsters doings below. Then when he least expected it, the scruffy little servant pokemon was too close for comfort. He was about to harshly protest and criticize her for the invasion of his personal space. Perhaps he would even push her away despite the limited space of the tree branch they were on. However, none of those actions could be carried out fast enough. Before Persian knew what in the world was going on, Purry kissed him, then leapt off the tree. 

Purry landed on three paws, keeping her broken leg from getting further damaged. The mutant stopped trying to fix his arm and went on the attack, while Purry skillfully dodged, despite the pain, even getting a few extra scratches in. Up in the tree Persian was shocked. He finally recovered enough to start yelling at the top of his lungs about the uncivilized, impulsive unworthy creature and her unforgivable actions, for which his father would certainly make her pay. 

Persian's voice called the mutant's attention back to the tree. He momentarily ceased the attack on Purry and tried to climb the tree again. However, all hope of accomplishing the task had already been lost when his right arm became immobile. Number three glared at the Persian up in the tree and growled at him one more time before turning his attention to the Meowth on the ground. She wasn't where she had been a second ago. 

The Bloody Killer spun around looking for his prey, only to have her jump on his head from one of the branches above. She had made good use of the distraction to climb up another tree and get ready to attack. 'Go now!' Purry hissed.

Persian knew it was his only chance to get back home and away from this mess. He would never run off on his own again. He jumped down from the tree and gracefully landed on his feet. He looked back only once, wondering why in the world that Meowth fought so hard. She should know she was a low ranked servant pokemon and that she would be so, no matter what she did. It didn't make sense to him that she would try so hard if she claimed she didn't feel she had to, why would she want to? What did she hope to accomplish if he had clearly already rejected her? He decided not to try to make sense of that stubborn Meowth's strange behavior and just get out of there. He ran in the direction of the mansion as fast as he could.

After Persian was gone, Purry had her paws full with the fight. The Bloody Killer was clearly tired, his left eye remained closed and his right arm didn't move. None the less, he kept throwing punches and kicks desperately, as if he rather rip himself to pieces than let all of his prey escape. He had already lost one of them and that was too much. The mutant's right fist collided with the base of a tree as Purry dodged the hit. He tried to kick her and succeeded in reaching her as she dashed to the side. She was thrown several feet back out of breath with a few broken ribs. 

The momentum of the hard kick was too much and the mutant stumbled to the ground, his head hitting a rock. He took the bloodied rock, not caring about his injuries, and threw it. Purry rolled out of the way of the rock and further damaged her ribs with the sudden movement. The mutant was trying to get back on his feet. His ankle, which he had twisted earlier when he fell off the tree, finally gave in and broke as he placed his weight on it while trying to get up. The creature screamed loudly and panted heavily. He would have his prey even if it killed him. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Not too far from the battle of mutant versus pokemon, Rex was searching for Persian. If Giovanni found out his precious pokemon disappeared from the mansion, the entire staff would be in big trouble. He didn't exactly disappear though, he was caught by the security cameras jumping over the fence and leaving. That new PorygonZ that began to inhabit the system for additional security let him go, understanding that the master's favored pokemon was free to go in and out as he pleased. The PorygonZ, codenamed Quartz, informed Rex of Persian's departure by showing him the images on the screen when the butler inquired about it. 

There were also other PorygonZ that had recently begun to inhabit the Rocket security systems for constant live monitoring against hackers and viruses. The idea was inspired by Prism, who was currently a Porygon2 partnered with Pixel. The main PorygonZ of the Viridian Rocket base was codenamed Ruby. Ruby, Quartz and all the other Rocket system PorygonZ answered to the leader PorygonZ, Diamond. Diamond's color was predominantly blue were PorygonZ were usually pink. The pokemon was constantly trained and given new data to keep it ahead of all other technology outside of Team Rocket. Diamond inhabited the main Rocket satellite in orbit.

"Persian! Persian!" Rex called out as he searched the forest area surrounding the mansion. "Persian, please come back!"

Laiki had gone to visit Rex and arrived to find the mansion staff in a panic because Persian was out on his own. Annoyed that her date was ruined, she joined Rex in the search. "He's not a baby," she insisted, trying to soothe his seemingly purposeless panic. "Persian's a big boy. He can go for a walk on his own and come back on his own just fine. He was probably fed up with everyone getting in his face all the time."

As Laiki was trying to calm Rex, Persian bolted towards them from between some bushes. "Persian, he's injured!" Rex rushed towards the pokemon followed by Laiki.

"He's not injured," she concluded after a quick examination to the precious pokemon. "He's just a bit dirty and a little bruised and scratched, but not really what I would call injured. I'm sure he'll look a lot better after a nice warm bath."

Loud noises were heard from near by, "that sounds like a fight, do you think it was wild pokemon that got him into this state?" Rex inquired and Persian hissed, saying something in his own language.

Laiki interpreted Persian's attempt at communication in her own way, "I guess so and it looks like someone wants vengeance. Hitmonchan could use some exercise." Laiki released her pokemon from his pokeball and pointed forward in the direction from where Persian had come, "charge!" She ran ahead followed by Hitmonchan, who was quick to catch up and take the lead.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Rex followed them, along with a vexed and curious Persian.

xoxox xox xoxox 

Purry had been fighting the mutant the entire time Persian was gone. The urban legend just didn't give up even if he was clearly exhausted. His breathing was harsh and labored and his movements were getting clumsier. Even so, he was still strong, but Purry was determined to win. With a final burst of power, the Meowth glowed brightly as her body began to change. She was larger though still slightly smaller than Giovanni's Persian. All her pain and injuries were gone and her bones had somehow mended.

Purry had feared that evolution wouldn't turn her into a refined creature and thus unconsciously held back. Now she had nothing to lose, evolution or not, she had already been rejected as she was not born high classed. She had nothing left to fear and let the power surround her in a burst of energy and light. After spending time with Peachy, Purry had mastered a few electric attacks. With a bright light and powerful atmosphere, she released a massive thunderbolt that finally knocked out number three.

Some rustling in the bushes were heard and a Hitmonchan arrived. A voice called out, "wait for me," alerting Purry that a human was approaching. Neither the pokemon nor the human were strangers to Purry. That Hitmonchan was Laiki's pokemon, so it must be her who was following after him. Maybe Persian was with her, but Purry didn't want to face him again, she had resolved to give up on him. 

The next one to emerge from the vegetation was Persian himself. As if answering to her well practiced secret stalker reflexes, Purry immediately ran for cover. He saw her as she dashed away and she thought she heard him say something, but she didn't stop. 

Laiki arrived at the scene, "don't run off without your trainer like that, Chan," she was about to say something to Persian who had also run ahead, but stopped upon seeing the unconscious mutant on the ground. She was already on the phone with headquarters when Rex caught up to the group.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Jessie, James, Misty and Pixel were in the crew wagon of the Antilles Oceanus Cargo train, Green Gallade. "Is it just me, or are we going backwards?" Misty asked as she felt the shift in movement. 

"Maybe they forgot something," James offered. None of them rode that train regularly, no one except the crew did. Thus it was hard to tell if the occurrence was normal or not. Yet it seemed out of place that they would forget something and have to go back for it.

Suspicious noises were heard overhead, as if someone was running on the train's roof. "What's that?" Jessie looked up instinctively, though her eyes could add nothing to the apparent presence that her ears had perceived. 

"I'll go ask," Pixel got up and left the table where the group was sitting. She headed to the control cabin and found that the conductor looked rather nervous. "Is something wrong?"

"It had to happen now," the conductor muttered. 

Pixel had noticed a few crew members coming and going through the train's wagons, but thought little of it until those noises became more noticeable, closer. "What's wrong?"

"He's out there," the conductor whispered, his uniform was the standard forest green of all Antilles Oceanus employees, regardless of if they worked on land or the sea. The sea was the biggest trade route, with a train on each region that distributed the cargo that was not picked up at the ports. "A dangerous enemy of Team Rocket known as number ten. No one knows who or what he is, except of course the higher ranks. We were warned about him and recently received communication that he was here, right on top of this train. We're staying in the forest's cover until the situation is resolved. It just had to happen now when we have such an important guest on board. I'm sure you already know this, but Misty Waterflower is Ash Ketchum's fiance. He's the son of Delia, whom the boss is dating."

One set of footsteps stopped on top of the control cabin and another kept approaching, then stopped suddenly, a little further back. There was a voice and some growls, but it was too muffled by the train's structure to be understood. The train came to a full stop in the middle of the forest. "I better go out and help," Pixel went back to the crew wagon along with the conductor.

The conductor was quick to apologize, "I'm sorry for this delay, we're having a few small technical difficulties. Please don't worry; we should be on our way to Cerulean City again soon."

"Right... Jessie, James, since we're in Team Rocket and all, we should go give them a hand," Pixel hinted.

"Wait a minute," Misty found the entire situation to be very suspicious, "what's really going on?"

Jessie and James looked confused, so Misty looked at Pixel for answers. The blue haired girl thought of her options for a moment then shrugged, "what's to stop you from going out and taking a look? You're on our side anyway. Have you ever heard the legend of the Bloody Killer? There's someone similar on the loose and we need to catch him. I'm off to the battle field." Without further explanations, Pixel exited the train.

Jessie and James didn't seem to know much about the situation, but remembered receiving a warning to be on the look out for a supposed criminal that was apparently on Team Rocket's black list. "Let's go, this will be our chance to do something big!" Jessie was full of determination as she rushed out of the train.

"Wait for me!" James called after her and quickly followed.

Seeing that everyone was going out, Misty rushed out as well, ignoring the conductor asking her to stay inside the train. She was still confused about the current occurrences, but came up with her own theories. If the one they were trying to capture was similar to the horrific urban legend, then that would mean he was a serial killer. She had heard about gangs being protective of their territory. Maybe he committed a crime in Team Rocket's territory and that's why they were trying to capture him. If he really was so bad he had to be stopped, it didn't matter if it was by Team Rocket or the police.

Outside of the train, a man with red hair stood atop the motionless train's engine. A few feet back was Comet. Misty gasped as she realized who the woman the criminal was holding hostage was, "Delia!" To further add to her worries, Delia seemed to be unconscious.

Giovanni spotted the train among the thick vegetation of the Viridian Forest. Flygon hurried towards the engine and stopped next to Comet. Ash followed on Charizard, stopping on Comet's other side. It seemed they were at a stand still with number ten threatening to break Delia's neck. The mutant twitched occasionally as if it was difficult to maintain his focus. 

"He's losing it," Comet quietly warned, he could see it in the mutant's eyes. What little perception the creature had of the world around him was slowly fading away.

"Iblis' hypnotism must be wearing off," Giovanni reasoned. He understood that the knowledge of being surrounded would do little to tilt the situation in their favor. Giovanni's cell phone rang, causing number ten to growl.

Ash kept trying to reason with him, telling him to let his mother go. His words were lost to a being that couldn't truly understand them.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 95: Give me Tranquility

At the Viridian Forest, the Green Gallade, a cargo train belonging to Antilles Oceanus, had stopped. There was a dangerous hostage situation on top of it, with number ten threatening an unconscious Delia. Giovanni and Ash had just arrived on Flygon and Charizard. Jessie, James, Misty and Pixel, who had been riding on the train, were there as well as Comet, who had followed number ten. The train was surrounded by Rocket agents and pokemon, but number ten didn't seem to care.

Giovanni received an urgent message on his cell phone from Luke, 'Dude, Giovanni, Binks like kept saying he like had to like help, you know?' Even in cases of emergency, Luke's speech and writing remained the same, he was so used to it, he simply couldn't communicate in any other way. 'He like says we have to like make ten like go to sleep again, man!' Not focusing on the possibility of Luke being on his way with Binks, instead Giovanni thought of the other piece of information. Noticing the commotion, the bug pokemon of the forest under the command of Queen had surrounded the train as well. The loyal Beedrill flew near Giovanni awaiting his orders.

As Ash watched the scene before him, his mother being held hostage by that unknown, yet familiar looking man, he could almost see something else in his mind. He didn't go find his father; instead he desperately searched for his mother, even if he somehow knew it would be easier to call for help in the search. He had doubts, he didn't know how to face his father, he didn't know if he could trust him. Then by chance he saw the kidnapper with Delia and chased them on Charizard. The timing was different, they were outside of the forest, it had taken him longer to find them. The train was moving away from Viridian City at full speed. Ash's plans to meet Giovanni had been different, the Rocket leader was not there and neither was Comet. The timing and location of several people had varied by seconds, causing an indirect chain reaction like a scene from an alternate timeline that was overwritten.

Ash approached the kidnapper hastily because of how much he wanted to save his mother. Then something in the creature snapped. He threw the unconscious Delia in front of the train and the collision killed her. The mutant then relentlessly attacked Ash and his Charizard. Ash was horrified as he tried to get by the creature and to his mother. The train had stopped, but her body was several feet away, thrown far by the impact. She was dead, killed by an enemy of Team Rocket, killed by a train of Team Rocket's allies, killed by a creature that he knew than and there wasn't human. She died because of Team Rocket. Then as if that pain wasn't already too much to bear, Charizard was gravely injured trying to protect him.

Ash snapped awake and tried to hold on more solidly to the present, to reality. He didn't know where that vision came from. He didn't understand the anger, frustration, pain and distrust that he could sense within himself for a moment, before it all faded into nothingness. He did trust his father to sincerely wish to save his mother, to truly care about her. Was that vision what would have been if he had not gained that trust? Had that mysterious Persian truly changed history? It was as if that vision of the horrors that could have been was something he saw due to his special aura, even if it was something that never happened as far as the current history went.

A soft breeze was felt, but unlike a natural one which came from a set direction, that soft current of wind seemed to circle around in the air. Ash noticed that they were being surrounded by sleep powder. The powder was all around, rather than directed only at him, so number ten didn't realize right away he was being attacked. His pursuers kept the same distance so he didn't react soon enough and began to give into sleep. 

"The air currents of the forest..." Ash softly whispered, he was fascinated by the fact that he was surrounded by sleep powder, but at the same time it remained far enough from him to not affect him. The soft air currents around them were enough to create a sort of protective bubble of gentle wind, shielding the Rockets from the sleep powder. "I didn't even know this was possible." Then a thought occurred to Ash, of course the forest would be heavily guarded with well trained pokemon, it was like a shield protecting Viridian City, where the gym was, the gym that truly belonged to Team Rocket.

"I'll keep him distracted, sneak up on him," Giovanni's voice was barely audible and he kept his eyes on Delia. He gave Queen, the Beedrill leading the pokemon army, some more quiet instructions. 

Ash jumped off the train, seeing that the bubble of air remained around him. He noticed a younger Beedrill following him; it was Prince, Queen's son. He walked around the train to the front as the mutant fell to his knees and began to lose his grip on Delia. Ash took back his mother and jumped backwards off the train to the ground below. 

Ash heard the mutant growl, but he was already too tired and fell asleep, almost slipping off the front of the train. "Delia," to Ash's surprise, Giovanni, who had been on the other side of the wagon not long ago, had already joined him in front of the train. 

"It's Zoroark!" Jessie called out suddenly, directing everyone's attention to the approaching pokemon. The Rockets were quick to surround her. 

"Wait!" Ash insisted loudly, "don't try to catch her, let her come over here."

Giovanni observed the Zoroark with puzzlement, "that pokemon comes and goes in the fall almost every year. She's very hard to catch and has managed to escape every time."

Ash left the unconscious Delia with Giovanni and approached the Zoroark, who was now only a few feet away from them. "There's something different about you. You're definitely not like other pokemon." It wasn't simply the unusual violet coloring of her mane, where normally Zoroark would have red. It was something about her energy; it was different, similar to the energy of a human. The Zoroark looked towards Delia and continued approaching. "I think she wants to help," Ash walked with her back to Delia and Giovanni.

"What could a pokemon do? We need to get her to a doctor," Giovanni was confused by the pokemon's behavior, but he wasn't about to entrust Delia's health to her.

"It's okay," Ash insisted. "We should let her try, I can't really explain it, but there's something very special about this Zoroark."

Giovanni looked at the pokemon again; she did indeed seem to have a distinctly familiar presence. It wasn't simply because she had escaped from him before, this was something else entirely, something that had been all but forgotten, "alright."

The Zoroark placed her right paw on Delia's forehead and emitted a soft glow that surrounded her. Delia's breathing turned deeper and more even, as if she was sleeping rather than knocked out. The Zoroark stepped back, indicating that she was done.

"Delia?"

"Mom?"

Delia slowly opened her eyes to find that she was safe with Ash and Giovanni. She blinked away the remaining sleep and fully woke up. "Ash, Giovanni, what happened? I remember being taken from Pallet Town and through the forest, then I hit my head, but it doesn't hurt anymore."

"You're okay!" Ash cheered, "dad and I came to get you and Zoroark healed you," he smiled, truly relieved that his mother was alright. "Team Rocket captured the kidnapper, it's okay now."

"You both came to save me together?" Delia couldn't help it but to smile at the thought, her previous worries disappearing for that moment, "thank you." It wasn't just for being rescued, but for Ash and Giovanni to have been able to work together. 

It seemed that things were calming down after all, so Misty finally looked at her cell phone that had been insistently vibrating in her pocket the whole time. The call originated from the Cerulean gym. "Hi, I was just on my way back home, but I might take a bit longer."

"Don't come," Violet's worried voice insisted, "all the pokemon at the gym are like sick. The symptoms came slowly and we didn't like fully notice what was going on until now. They're all sick, it's just like in Lavender, Saffron and Vermilion, Fuchsia too, Cerulean is becoming like that."

"Then the epidemic reached that far?" Everyone had been hoping for a cure, some going as far as saying that it was the same epidemic from years ago with some minor changes and that a new version of the same antidote might work. However, the research had thus far proven fruitless. The moment of relief was cut short for Misty by the terrible news.

To make matters worse, number ten suddenly snapped awake, growling loudly. After experiencing being awake for much longer than ever before in his existence, he didn't want to give into unconsciousness again. His angry growls caught everyone's attention as the Rocket agents that were taking him prisoner were harshly thrown several feet away. "Don't let him escape!" Giovanni ordered.

The Rockets that had gathered released their pokemon in a bright display of power. Several different elements crashed against the rampaging mutant, fire, electricity, poison, water, ice, beams of light and darkness. Yet nothing stopped him as he struggled against the elements, breaking free of the nets that were shot at him from bazookas. In the middle of the chaos, number ten spotted his genetic twin. No longer afraid, the mutant ran towards Comet filled with hatred and jealousy. Comet didn't try to step out of the creature's path, instead ready to put up a fight, however, Zoroark jumped in front of him.

Number ten paused and stared at the mysterious pokemon at the same time that Luke and Binks arrived. "Don't be so hasty, Comet," Binks advised, "a human cannot fight a monster alone, being human is both our greatest strength and our greatest weakness."

Luke observed the mutant, he immediately saw the resemblance between him and Comet, "is it like really like our choice..." to say who is human and who is not? He didn't finish his question. 

Among the attacks, the chaos, the confusion and the tension, Zoroark stepped forward and in a fast, nearly imperceptible movement, she snatched the mutant by the throat, squeezing him tightly. Seeing their target immobilized, the Rocket pokemon got ready to launch what they hoped was the final attack combining their power. "Wait," They paused upon their leader's voice, "capture number ten, but don't hit Zoroark." He voiced what Delia, Ash and several others would have spoken in seconds had he not given the order first.

Casting one last glance in Binks' direction, Zoroark disappeared; she vanished into thin air, teleporting the mutant away with her. No one was expecting her to do that. The chaos seemed to be over for the time being, but it left behind a feeling of approaching danger and confusing helplessness.

xoxox xox xoxox

For the next few days, nothing was known of the whereabouts of number ten and Zoroark. Binks insisted that Zoroark was the key to ending the new epidemic that affected pokemon. "First you said the cure was with Aayla and now this?" Giovanni clearly had no more patience left for Binks as the group headed away from the train and back to the Viridian Headquarters after their encounter with number ten.

"Zoroark is Aayla," Delia finally stated after a long silence with more certainty than she herself thought possible. "When she healed me I could feel it, she's the same person." Her memories went back to an old program she watched years ago late into the night when she couldn't sleep. Ash had just left in his journey and she had not yet met Mimey. It was a rerun of an old unsolved mysteries show. 

That particular episode spoke of a strange creature that resembled both a human and a pokemon, being spotted in several locations at different times. First it was Cinnabar Island, then the area near Fuchsia City. At later dates other locations were mentioned, but the so called evidence was extremely blurry at best. Only the enthusiasts that were obsessed with proving the existence of the mythological part human and part pokemon creatures known as gijinka paid serious attention to such findings. It made Delia wonder if the rumored gijinka was Aayla during the time when she was undergoing her transformation. 

Needless to say, Ash and Misty, who had returned to the Viridian gym with Giovanni and Delia, understood little about what was going on, though Ash remembered his mother mentioning Aayla in her stories of the past. Little was explained other than the possibility of Aayla being Zoroark. It was incredible, but with all the unbelievable things that Ash and Misty had seen in their journey, they took the prospect with an open mind. Jessie and James were given some additional instructions to stay alert and sent on their way back to Saffron City for the time being. 

Ash and Misty remained in the above ground guest area of the Viridian Gym, while below ground the scientists ran around trying to figure out how to more efficiently fight the illness. Their studies and research had been going on for quite some time, but had so far yielded no definite results. Giovanni was informed about the capture of number three, which remained a secret from most others except Delia and a select few Rocket agents, including Comet and Pixel. Though the doctors in service of Team Rocket tried to keep him alive for research, number three's body had already aged too much, too fast, and could never recover. With his passing, another dark secret of Team Rocket died.

xoxox xox xoxox

The overall atmosphere settled into routine uncertainty, yet there was a certain frightening calm to it. The world seemed to be quiet, but not a peaceful quiet, it was more so similar to the silence of death. It was not the relief of a solution, but the tranquility of resignation. The feeling was not shared by everyone, certainly not by Ash. On a quiet fall afternoon, as the change in seasons began to truly be felt, Ash sat on the edge of the bed in a guest room at the Viridian gym, watching Misty sleep. She had not gone back to Cerulean City, as it was her sisters' and Brock's insistence. She wanted to go and help take care of the pokemon, but dared not risk infecting those that had a chance of escaping from the illness in her current team. 

With Givan and Dia gone, so was their influence, thus the cure that could spread much like a virus, was no longer there. As for Aayla's version of the cure, though more powerful, it didn't spread by itself in its current state. Furthermore, Aayla could not muster the energy to call upon her healing powers more than a few times every day. Wherever she may be, as her whereabouts were still unknown, there currently wasn't a lot she could do.

Ash gently brushed a strand of red hair away from Misty's face, softly tracing the line of moisture left by her unconscious worried tears. Regardless of how much power and influence Team Rocket had, what good was it if they couldn't save the pokemon? Plus there was still so much he didn't understand. There were so many missing pieces of the puzzle that he realized he couldn't yet begin to reach a conclusion about what the final picture would be like. He looked at Pikachu and nodded, prompting the yellow pokemon to jump on his shoulders as he left the room. Misty's sleep had been quite uneasy and she was overdue for that afternoon nap. It was her choice not to speak of the situation in Cerulean City to anyone except Ash. She thought it would only bring worries that could not be solved. Everyone already knew how bad the situation was, pointing out that her family was so directly involved in it would only make things worse and summon stress that would not help the situation.

Ash made his way around the upper floor of the gym, hearing his mother's voice down the hall. She held a little black cell phone with a red R as she spoke. "Please try your best there. The communication channels have been set so you can share results with the personnel over here. Let's hope a cure is discovered soon." She must be talking to Professor Oak or Gary, Ash concluded. 

Binks, that thin scientist from Team Rocket had gone to Pallet Town. The minds of Samuel and Gary Oak were added to the research team. Though they would not work side by side with the Rocket scientists aside from Binks, the laboratories would be in constant communication sharing results. It was done in hopes that the comparison of two separate and diverse investigations would reveal something that either one alone could not.

After ending her call, Delia noticed Ash standing quietly in the hallway with a somewhat lost expression. "Ash? Are you okay?" She knew he wasn't, no one was feeling okay, but she needed to know how he was handling everything. She thought he would be resting with Misty for a while longer.

"As okay as I could be," Ash honestly replied, "Misty fell asleep, she's exhausted. I've been hearing rumors and news about this now and then for a while," he was referring to the new epidemic. "We never really talked about it much, there was a lot going on and it was such a sad topic. Not talking about it doesn't make it go away. It's ironic when we think that bad things only happen to other people. They could be good people and it could be very sad, but it's different when it hits so close to home, when it happens to someone dear."

"Ash..." Delia hugged her son with one arm, holding her baby Swablu in the other. "Never lose hope, that's been life's biggest lesson to me. Never ever lose hope no matter how bad things may look."

Ash leaned into his mother and allowed her to console him like when he was a small child. She gently caressed his wild dark hair. "It's hard to wait. If I could do something I could at least be kept busy with trying. It's strange, everything is so quiet, but it's not calm, it's..." it's dead, "it's as if everyone is losing hope, I won't..."

"That's right, we need to stay strong," Delia encouraged. She read something in her son's eyes, a mix of curiosity and uncertainty. "Were you looking for your father?"

Ash nodded, "things have gotten so busy that we haven't had the chance to talk more than a little. I understand and I'm glad Team Rocket is doing something about this. I just wish I could help the situation too."

As Delia and Ash were talking, Giovanni appeared at the end of the hallway, heading towards his gym office on the other side. Delia, who was facing in his direction, saw him first. With a few seconds of eye contact she seemed to convey a message that a thousand words could not. "We will all do anything we can," her words were left ambiguous, yet carried a lot of meaning that left room for thought. That was what not losing hope was about, to do all that one could. "It's Swablu's snack time now," with those words, Delia excused herself, giving the father and son time to talk. "Do you want to come too, Pikachu?"

"Pika," the loyal electric companion nudged Ash, who petted his soft yellow fur. He then jumped on Delia's shoulder and left with her and Swablu.

As if following a silent agreement, Ash and Giovanni walked to the office and sat down on the couch. It was the same place where Delia had sat when she returned after so many years. She had given him pieces of a confession and left Giovanni to come up with all sorts of wild theories. Though that time wasn't too long ago in comparison to the distant past of their youth before Ash's birth, those years from long ago somehow felt closer than the time of confusion that happened more recently. He had began to trust Delia again at some point, just like before, or perhaps he gave into the knowledge that deep down he might have never been able to truly forget her. They were together again, but like many times before, new challenges stood in front of them.

There was also the uncertainty and curiosity of Ash. The young man shifted in his seat and observed the office, taking in every tiny detail of it, as if he were trying to memorize it. Giovanni suddenly got up, which made Ash's eyes go from exploring the office, to focus on his father. "Are you busy?"

Giovanni was reminded about how Delia asked him if he was busy. Even if she had things to say, even if she wanted to spend time with him, she would still often first ask if he was busy. "I'm always busy, but you can say what's on your mind." He opened up a tall drawer that looked as if it could contain an assortment of folders. In truth, papers had become rare over the years as technology grew and Giovanni's business ventures became further digitalized. The Viridian gym leader took a red item out of the otherwise empty drawer. The item was not immediately noticed by Ash, the only other current occupant of the office.

Ash considered his words. He knew he wanted to speak to his father, but had so many questions that his thoughts jumbled up into a mess that couldn't be translated into words. He stared at the floor in intense concentration. His train of thought came to a full stop when something was placed upon his head. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Giovanni take a seat on the couch next to him again. Ash almost reluctantly reached for the item on his head and brought it into his view. He smiled at the familiar old red material with white in the front and the old Pokemon League symbol, which had been since upgraded over the years. He found the will to smile sincerely once more and saw immeasurable hope in that small detail, "thank you."

Giovanni couldn't help it but to find a certain fondness in the scene. "You really are a lot like Delia; the smallest things seem to cause such a big change."

"You kept my hat safe for me; you took care of something that was important for me even if I know you don't really like it all that much. I'm happy because that means you thought of me," Ash returned the precious hat to his head. He was feeling comfortable, as if it had an almost magical effect over him. He leaned back on the couch and let out a breath, closing his eyes for a moment. "I just remembered, I haven't thanked you for the car yet, it's really cool. The design is different from other cars I've seen. It's almost like it could be a secret spy's car in a movie."

"Almost," Giovanni agreed, "but your mother would disapprove of I had left the missiles in it, so I had those removed. The mechanism is still there, just without the ammo."

Ash paused, examining Giovanni's expression. The young man blinked twice before his surprised uncertainty turned to knowing amusement. "Can we load it up with fireworks?"

"That's an option," Giovanni agreed, though he knew there were other more important things that Ash wanted to talk about. He seemed to be enjoying the small talk, but that would only cause him to be distracted and not say what he truly meant to say. Ash would leave it for later like Delia or just bottle it up like him. "What was it that you wanted to tell me before?"

"A lot, but at the same time no specific thing," Ash confessed. "I guess I just want to know more. I got to know you as the gym leader first, then as the secret leader of Team Rocket. Both are only a portion of who you are and there's a lot more I still don't know; I can sense it. I feel it, a strong ambition it's something..." Ash paused, looking into his father's eyes wondering if he should go on. Giovanni nodded, prompting him to continue, "it's something mom told me to watch out for. I don't know why I didn't sense it before. Maybe I focused so much on the part of you that you were showing, the part I wanted to see more of, that I missed all your other aspects. Or maybe... maybe it all depends on which part is directed to whom."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 96: Give me Affection

Ash and Giovanni were alone in his gym office. It was a strange sensation unlike anything Giovanni had ever felt before. Delia had her ways to make him talk, an inexplicable charm that made it difficult to keep secrets, as if he longed to feel her understanding without realizing it. Her gaze was soft, almost hypnotizing, delicately tugging at his defenses until the doors opened with the most gentle push. Ash's eyes seemed to carry a certain fire in them that spoke of a curiosity much more impatient than Delia's. It was an intensity, hidden beyond a curtain of caring understanding, that could knock the door down like a thousand hyper beams. Delia asked to look into his soul and somehow always managed to be granted passage. Ash seemed to possess the key to look into anyone's soul without having to ask. "What are you doing?" He couldn't look away from his son's eyes.

"I wanted to see," Ash replied in a whisper. "Sorry if I'm being a little invasive, I just wanted to see it, the color of your soul. It's not really a color in the usual sense; it's a feeling, a sensation. It's hard to explain. It's a mix of many aspects, many different characteristics and sides. I know that you won't give up on accomplishing your goals by any means. I also know that not everything is black and white; I think I understand like mom does. One similarity can be stronger than ten differences at times and different paths may overlap just enough. Does that sound strange?"

"Not at all," Giovanni admitted, "I just didn't expect you to say something so... deep. Some time ago I researched many legends looking for rare pokemon and new power. That led to certain discoveries, though they didn't all really take off. I remember a legend about the Aura Guardians. I never really looked too deeply into that one; it seemed to be more myth than reality. Just now I remembered that, I'm not sure why."

"That's what it is, but I never really formally trained so I don't consider myself to be an expert," Ash revealed. "Sometimes when I focus and let my energy flow, I can sense things, see beyond what I normally see. There are times when it helps me understand and times when I end up with more things to be confused over, feelings and thoughts that might not immediately match the given situation, words and actions. Later, it slowly falls into place and it's easier to understand. They say every person is a whole world, I think this might be what they mean."

xoxox xox xoxox

Giovanni's Persian had been returned to his trainer after the symptoms of the mysterious illness disappeared. The humans were unaware that it was Aayla who had healed him. Instead of sitting next to the gym leader as he usually did, he had taken a walk through the underground Viridian Rocket base to satisfy his curiosity. He peeked into the infirmary, where three Rockets were entertained by their conversation as well as doing various things simultaneously, such as playing handheld video games and looking up celebrity gossip online. 

A female Pikachu with a blue bow on her left ear, approached Persian at the door. 'Are you looking for someone?' She asked curiously while holding a bowl of chocolate ice-cream with marshmallows on one paw and a spoon on the other.

'Of course not. why would I be looking for anyone among you servant pokemon?' Persian huffed; he didn't understand his own curiosity to know if the odd Meowth who had helped him was alright. She simply disappeared. As for the female Persian he saw for a split second, she was too far away to be recognizable, moving too quickly and disappearing among the vegetation. He had no idea who she could have been and was beginning to think she was only a dream. It had been quite an exhausting day, which fueled the idea of the mysterious female Persian being only a figment of his imagination and nothing more.

Peachy pouted, 'we're not servants! If you're mean I'm electrocuting you!'

Persian threw his head back in superior indifference, 'you wouldn't dare.' No sooner had those words, spoken in pokemon language, left Persian's mouth; a blast of electricity collided with him at point blank. The heat from the electricity quickly melted the ice-cream. A portion of melted chocolate ice-cream flew from the bowl propelled by the aftershock and landed on the classy pokemon's face. 'You!' He hissed.

Peachy hissed right back, "chu!" 

By then the humans were well aware of the happenings and Pixel tried to interfere. "Peachy, you shouldn't pick a fight with the boss' pokemon; you'll get me into trouble." The blue haired girl picked up her pokemon and held her away from the Rocket boss' spoiled pokemon. "Come sit over here and finish your ice-cream, it's already melted, unless you don't want it..."

As Peachy was placed on a chair, she held the lime green bowl protectively. "Pi!" There was no way she would turn down delicious food. She resumed her meal, shoveling away the melted chocolate ice-cream and static-filled marshmallows. Ironically, though she ate quickly, she was somehow perfectly neat and not a single drop of melted brown landed on her pristine yellow glossy fur.

Persian remained dissatisfied with the disrespect and approached Peachy looking for revenge. "A word of advice," Comet warned, "don't make Peachy mad. She's all sweet, cuddly and friendly, but if you get in her bad side, she's deadly."

Persian bared his claws and hissed at Comet. 'This is none of your business!'

"Don't go showing me your claws mister, or I might have to pay you back for last time," Comet petted the top of Persian's head, messing up his fur just to bother him.

"Last time?" Laiki curiously and nosily asked. "What do you mean last time and why haven't I heard about this?"

Comet stepped out of the way of Persian's lazy slash, with which the classy pokemon wasn't even trying to hit him. "It was years ago," the young man pushed his hair back, running his fingers through it in search of something, "right there." Barely perceptible under his red hair there was a cut-like scar that anyone would have trouble seeing unless they knew exactly where to look for it. "It's one of life's earliest lessons, one of the first few things I vividly remember. I was still small back then, dad went to Giovanni's office to discuss something," probably about keeping him out of the lab and raising him as a son, rather then an experiment. "I didn't really understand what they were talking about. Either way, my attention was on Persian, then a Meowth. He was the first pokemon I ever saw as far as I remember. I pulled on his tail and he scratched me."

"Picking a fight with the boss' pokemon, you were such a little trouble maker." Laiki laughed as she kneeled down to clean Persian's face. "There, there, your majesty, all clean."

Persian huffed in indignation as a response. He glanced around the infirmary deciding that he would ignore the humans and the Pikachu. She was having the audacity to ignore him after all, as if drinking a bowl of melted ice-cream was so much more interesting than him. There was a Charmeleon in the room too, though he remained sound asleep with a pair of headphones upon his head, playing music and blocking out all other noises. Peeking out of a more spacious section of the infirmary, there was a Gyarados, he was awake, but didn't seem to be in the mood to do much else than lie there until something that caught his interest occurred.

A young Absol, still basically a baby, was playing with a yellow tennis ball, batting it away with his paw against the wall. The ball bounced off the white surface towards the small Absol, who sent it flying against the wall again. There was also a Scyther, a young adult like the other pokemon present. Prism was also there, but she was in Pixel's computer where she liked to spend most of her time, thus out of sight. "Are you looking for Purry?" Rykros boldly asked. 

Persian didn't reply, instead giving him a look of confusion and annoyance upon the insistence that he might be looking for someone. He was indeed looking for her, but he wasn't about to admit it. Besides, if he had ever heard the name, he had not thought of it as important enough to remember, if he even knew it in the first place. 

Rykros elaborated, assuming Persian didn't know who he was talking about. "A fiery Meowth that looks like someone no one would want to mess with, with a charm as sharp as a scythe."

The description fit perfectly and Persian knew right away who the Scyther was talking about. "Are you having an affair with her or something?" Chan, Laiki's nosy Hitmonchan piped in. 

Persian gave Chan a death glare and retaliated, half tackling and half pushing the Hitmonchan away. Chan hastily went into a defensive stance, thus minimizing the impact as much as possible, though it was still enough to make him stumble backwards. 'I was just curious if she was dead or alive that's all. That Meowth has nothing to do with me,' Persian hissed.

"I knew they wouldn't resolve things peacefully," Laiki pouted, distressed at the prospect of the pokemon making and mess which she would be stuck cleaning up. 

Peachy finished savoring her snack and jumped into action. Before she could initiate a battle royal, Shenron, the Gyarados, voiced a peculiar revelation. 'The Meowth you speak of is no more. She is fated never to return.'

The news made an expression of shock suddenly cloud Persian's face. He involuntarily stepped back, sadness barely visible in his eyes. 'I see...' 

Realizing that her opponent no longer possessed the will to fight, Peachy paused and observed the situation. She didn't understand why the thought of evolution was so shocking to Persian. What Shenron had spoken was completely true, Purry the Meowth was no more, she was indeed fated to never return. Though strange things sometimes happened regarding evolution, it was extremely unlikely for a pokemon who had already evolved to go back to the way it was before. 

'I just wanted to satisfy my curiosity, that's all,' Persian voiced with a hint of something unknown bothering him in the back of his mind. So the scruffy servant pokemon lay down her life fighting off a fierce creature for his sake. It shouldn't matter to him, it was her duty and she should have been honored to bravely fulfill it. Then why was he so bothered by it? He was not one to express gratitude except to his human parents, but never to anyone else. He shouldn't need to tell her he appreciated what she had done because a servant pokemon required no appreciation. 'There is no reason for me to be here,' Persian finally stated and without further ado, he dashed away from the infirmary.

"I wish I could understand pokemon language," Laiki sighed. "I feel as if I just witnessed an intense soap opera style dramatic scene, but I have no idea what the characters were saying. It's like watching a crucial episode of your favorite series in a foreign language you don't understand. You know there's something big happening right in front of your eyes, but you don't know what it is. It's so taunting it's frustrating!"

xoxox xox xoxox

After leaving the infirmary, Persian made his way to one of the rooms at Viridian, where Delia was sharing some snacks with Pikachu and Swablu. He hopped on the couch next to her and had to do nothing more to get her attention before receiving a welcomed scratch behind the ears and pleasant soft strokes on his head and back. "Aw, have a snack honey; maybe it'll make you feel better."

Persian slightly lifted his head and took the gourmet pokemon cookie his mother was offering him. He wasn't sure why she was assuming that he wasn't feeling well. Glad that the small Swablu going off to play with Pikachu made room on Delia's lap, he rested there being petted and cuddled. 

"What is it that hurts you, sweetie?" Delia gently whispered soothingly. "Are you worried about your pokemon brothers and sisters?" The term of siblings was used in a metaphorical sense to refer to pokemon in general. "Don't worry, Team Rocket is working really hard to solve the problems and make everyone all better. I'm sure things will work out." Delia petted her pokemon son some more, trying to decipher what was on his mind. "It's something else that's bothering you, isn't it? Are you suffering from a broken heart?"

Persian snorted at the possibility. A broken heart over such an unworthy creature that should produce no reaction from him with the exception of disgust? No, never, absolutely not! 

"You're as proud as your father," Delia couldn't help it but to laugh. She gently cupped his face in her hands, lifting his gaze to meet hers. "Tell mommy what's wrong. Are you missing someone?"

Persian shook his head, hoping that his mother would get the message and stop asking. He also noticed that Pikachu and Swablu had ceased their playing and were staring at him. It all infuriated Persian and he glared at the other pokemon, warning them with his eyes not to further annoy him.

"If you don't want to talk about it, maybe making a wish will help, hope can be quite powerful," Delia advised. "A small quiet prayer can go a long way. Never give up and the right actions will be revealed, then you'll know what to do."

Nothing was making sense to Persian lately and he had enough of it. He didn't understand the assumptions of the Rocket agents and their pokemon. He especially didn't understand what his mother was getting at. He jumped off her lap and left the room.

xoxox xox xoxox

Persian made his way to a small interior garden below the gym. It wasn't too large as such decorative places were bigger and more abundant at the mansion. It was only a small place to take a breather in a calming scenery. Persian walked to the small pond in the center of the garden. The water was crystalline, its blue bottom making it look as if it reflected the sky. The ceiling was painted in the colors of the day's sky with a few fluffy white clouds on the light blue. The walls were surrounded by bushes that reached to the ceiling with roses wrapping around its branches. Daisies were scattered on the soft grass that had been planted on the ground resting on the floor. 

Persian looked at his reflection in the pond and felt as if he was being watched. It gave him a sense of deja vu, but he disregarded it as his imagination. That fiery Meowth, Purry, was gone, killed by that monster that was drawn to her because he had to run off and take a walk. He felt completely silly about it, absolutely ridiculous, but he decided to follow his mother's advice anyway. Ignoring the feeling of a familiar presence that had to be imaginary, if not the wondering spirit of a fallen pokemon, he took a deep breath and looked around. When he was certain that he was alone, he spoke a small prayer as a means to help himself relax and let go of a past event he shouldn't have glanced back at in the first place. 

'Rest in peace, Purry.' That alone didn't quite satisfy him, thus he continued, 'you weren't so bad, for a servant pokemon I mean. It's too bad that you died, since you were dutiful and all. You probably already got some real prayers from your friends, you know, some that actually regret your passing, not that it's any of my business and... why am I even talking to myself?' Even if he said that, he felt as if he was being heard, as if Purry's uneasy spirit was being appeased. 'Anyway, if it were my choice, I would have decided that the creature didn't kill you, but I guess it's not my choice,' he frowned at having so little control over the situation. Reality hit him like a Golem falling on his head. He couldn't have anything he wanted because there were things that no one could change. The realization was both enraging and frightening. 

Persian lay down and closed his eyes. He felt movement somewhere in the room, but assumed it was the artificial breeze running through it, if not his recently overactive imagination. He remembered the unknown female Persian he saw before. Whoever she was, she was very fast. A cold chill went down his spine as he considered the possibility that the mysterious Persian was the evolved ghost of the fallen Meowth, not a ghost type pokemon, but an actual wandering spirit. Had she returned to haunt him for his ingratitude and perhaps indirect cause of her death? Yet she didn't feel like a vengeful spirit, more like a protective presence. 

'Purry? Are you here?' He felt especially ridiculous, but was compelled to continue voicing his thoughts. 'If you are, you can rest now, your spirit doesn't need to wander around aimlessly any more. As a ghost there's not much else that you can do now except rest in peace.'

Unable to resist any longer, Purry remained hidden as she spoke, 'I'm not a ghost, I've evolved.'

Persian bolted to his feet, his head turning in every direction it could. 'You're alive? Those pokemon said that you...' he paused and thought about the Gyarados' words. He said that the Meowth was gone, but he didn't use the word dead. He must have been referring to evolution all along while being ambiguous, perhaps purposely confusing to summon his guilt. Persian huffed in frustrated anger, wasn't anyone going to respect him anymore? 'Stop following me!' He growled, 'why are you hiding anyway? Evolution or not, you can't be worse than before!'

There was a long silence until Purry sorrowfully declared, 'I am worse than before, a hideous freak with a face that would give you nightmares. Evolution has been my worse curse.'

'I see...' Persian felt an immeasurable relief in the fact that she was alive, though she was obviously miserable. 'Well you're probably already used to being hideous so that's not so bad.' A pebble flew from the bushes in Persian's direction, though he dodged it. 'What was that about?' He hissed, even the one who he thought would be unconditionally, perhaps stupidly, loyal to his authority had suddenly decided to be disrespectful.

'A warning,' Purry hissed from her hiding place in the bushes. 'I've already given up on you so don't make me mad.'

'What is it with everyone being so disrespectful today?' Persian exclaimed in frustration. 'Even if they know who I am, they don't understand.'

'You're just being a spoiled brat,' Purry argued.

'You're being infuriating,' Persian hissed in return. 'I know you're there.' He looked right at the spot where Purry was hidden, 'I know where you are and I know you can see me. Stop being ridiculous and come out, whatever it is you look like, it can't be any worse than before. It just bothers me to feel like I'm talking with a wall, even if you seem to have enough stubbornness to have the understanding of one. Look, I'll even close my eyes and you can go away and leave me alone.'

'I was here first,' Purry hissed, menacingly coming out of the bushes like a wild untamable pokemon stalking her pray. 'If you want to be alone then you leave.'

Persian's eyes were already closed as he had offered and he didn't see the fury that stood before him. 'My father owns this place, you can't tell me to leave!' He hissed in accumulated anger. 'You should just continue your duties as normal. If you insist on guarding me like a knight to a prince, then so be it, but quit spying on me, it's creepy! If you're really that much more hideous maybe the humans can fix you a bit, I can't have unworthy guards. Not that I need guards and I certainly don't want your presence. In fact, as soon as there's an opportunity I'll be the one to battle. I wasn't feeling well, but I'll show you how powerful I am, you'll be impressed! Not that I care if you're impressed or not.' 

When Persian opened his eyes to glare defiantly he was shocked. He had mentally prepared for the hideous sight that Purry claimed she had become, worse than before. Instead he found a female Persian with perfect glossy fur that had grown back in full and a fit elegant body worthy of the most high ranked pokemon shows. When the impression faded to give way to reality, he was angered. The ruby on his head was at the center of the conversation of many humans. Its purity, quality and size made him the subject of admiration. After seeing her broken charm he would think her gem would be chipped and cracked. Instead the evolved Purry had a horn of the purest ruby coming from her forehead. It was perfectly polished, both beautiful and deadly.

'Stop staring,' ashamed, she tried to cover up the shiny red horn to no avail.

'You!' Persian hissed. 'How dare you have a gem like that, no one has a gem of that size! The humans, they admire it greatly. If father sees this... No, he would never care for another pokemon as much as me, I'll still be his favorite, I am his son after all.'

Purry blinked at the growling and grumbling that Persian was making about her gem. She tilted her head curiously to the side. She was technically a freak to be scorned by other Persian, Meowth and pokemon in general, save for those who were open minded enough not to judge by appearances. However, this particular Persian was very different. His standards had transcended those of pokemon and were based on what pleased humans. Her appearance was not something that threatened a human's sense of authority questioning their right as master as the ability of speech would be perceived. Despite her condition being a deformity of nature, it was something that humans would be fascinated by, cataloging it as beautiful. 

'Are you... could you actually be...' Purry couldn't believe what she was about to ask, 'are you jealous?'

'Don't be ridiculous!' Persian hissed immediately. He didn't want to leave room for doubt in his reply, though the envy was all over his expression. 'Humans will still admire me more because I'm... I'm...' Stronger? Faster? More refined? The last one for sure, at least. 'Because of my father, so there!' He finished.

'Speaking of your father, maybe I should go and report to the boss.' With those words, Purry dashed out of the small garden room. 

Persian's eyes went wide and a million thoughts passed through his mind in the split second before he hurried after her.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash and Giovanni were still at the gym office, talking about various things. Ash wanted to get more of Giovanni's point of view in regards to how he met Delia and their story of earlier years. "So you were planning to propose but had to delay it because of the volcano being attacked. Then when mom sunk the S.S. Lapras you didn't want to wait anymore?"

"It was bad timing and I was interrupted by an explosion," Giovanni admitted, remembering that he never got an answer. He thought he saw Delia wearing the ring he had no doubts she would still keep. He wasn't sure, since she was holding her baby Swablu, so it was hard to see her hands beyond her cloud-like wings. "Even so..." Giovanni was surprised at himself about how easily he would admit to such things. "There was something special about how she went out of her way to sink a ship for me. She was trying to stop a confrontation that I would have won anyway, but still." Perhaps all those years without Delia really did make him see her in a new light when she finally returned. With that light, the world itself might change, maybe only a little, but just enough. "She's always found a way to be helpful, even if we were having a disagreement."

"I know what you mean," Ash agreed. "I was too excited to notice back then, but looking back on it, I think mom was really worried about me going on a journey. I should have noticed how uneasy she was the day before I left when I was all caught up on looking forward to it. She still saw me off with a smile."

The father and son moment was interrupted by a female Persian with a horn shaped ruby bursting into the office, followed by a familiar male Persian. The two pokemon ran around leaving chaos in their path until Giovanni managed to grab them both by the fur on their backs and drag them to a corner like misbehaving pets. He let them go as they seemed to have gotten the message from his stern look that no more chaotic running around his office would be permitted. He examined the ruby horn the unknown female had, petting her soft fur. 

"That's so cool!" Ash joined the examination, curiously looking at the new Persian. "Is she yours too?"

"She is now," Giovanni decided, which caused Persian to protest in worry. "Stop making such a fuss, I already told you, your girlfriend can come live with us."

Persian's jaw dropped, 'my what?!'

Purry blushed scarlet, but she still had the energy to try to get some payback. 'I had already given up on you before... Not interested...' She proudly walked away. She was indeed still very interested, but she made a perfect impersonation of Persian's usual proud and indifferent expression.

Used to being admired, Persian felt indignation at this display of indifference from one's whose loyalty he would never admit he was glad to think of as permanent. He watched in shock as she threw her head back in disregard, much like he often did, and dashed out of the office. 'Wait a minute! You're supposed to admire me without question, come back here!' He dashed after her in a strange turn of events in which the chaser somehow became the chased.

Comet and Pixel, followed by a nosy Laiki, appeared at the office door from which the two Persian departed. "Did Purry cause any trouble?" Comet inquired, wondering what annoyance she might have caused the boss with the possibility of getting him, or Pixel, or both, into trouble for allowing her to run wild.

"So she was yours, she's a little wild, but nothing too bad," Giovanni didn't feel like making a fuss about it, given that his own Persian was misbehaving just as much. 

"They're in love," Ash declared as if he had made the wisest of discoveries, though one with no research or base other than a random hasty guess.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. Classyalleyshipping FTW! (That's PersianxPurry BTW.)


	29. Part 97

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 97: Give me Warmth

Following the lively scene at the Viridian gym's office concerning Purry and Persian, it was decided that Purry would live with Giovanni and his pokemon. The Rocket boss had taken an interest in the female Persian with a most peculiarly large gem. If his own precious Persian took an interest in her, as it was his assumption that had happened, he would not be opposed to the idea. Even if her origin was not of professional breeding, she had become a rare pokemon and that fact could not be denied. Giovanni remembered having seen some theories of ancient Persian with horns; it was a guess of the scientific community at best. Like humans, pokemon not only evolved in the spontaneous sense, but also slowly with time. 

Comet and Pixel would still be able to see Purry, since she would be where Giovanni was. Besides, when she felt like running off to visit, they were sure there was no one in the world that could stop her free spirit, not even Team Rocket and its leader. For the rare pokemon, the Rocket agents were rewarded with many prizes which included a payment bonus and several useful items. Some of those items were technical machines, rare candy and even a dubious disk, which Pixel used to evolve Prism, her Porygon2, into PorygonZ.

Just as Comet and Pixel were done with their business and Laiki with her eavesdropping, Jessie and James arrived to report in. "We're back!" Jessie chirped with a cheer that stood out far beyond even her best of moods in the past. In her arms she held a small Eevee, tiny enough to be a newborn. Meteor, Comet's baby Absol, jumped from Comet to Jessie's shoulder to have a better look at the other young pokemon that he had decided would be his new friend and playmate. "Aw, Eevee made a friend!" Jessie chirped in pure bliss.

Giovanni had not requested that Jessie and James should report in when they arrived at Viridian. He merely approved, at Delia's insistence, of their provisional transfer to work at the Viridian Rocket Headquarters in light of the temporary closing of their daycare center at Saffron City. The close was done in hopes of staying as far as possible from the epidemic until an effective cure was put into action. The event brought terrible sorrow to Jessie, who cried like a baby seriously frightening James, as she was usually very strong. However, upon their approach to the gym office, she was inexplicably seized by joyous bliss, probably remembering some moment in the past when they were reporting something or other to the boss and enjoying the sense of nostalgia that came with the random memory. All in all, James was terrified to think of how much worse Jessie's random mood swings would get as her condition progressed.

"Is that Flareon and Growlie's baby?" Filled with his usual curiosity, Ash approached the little Eevee, petting him gently. 

While all of that was taking place right at the door to Giovanni's office, Delia arrived with Persian and Purry. Her baby Swablu was perched on her shoulder while she walked slightly bent over, keeping a hand on each Persian's shoulder, as if to guide them. Following her were Pikachu and Peachy, who had tackled Pikachu in a bone crushing hug the second she saw him. Pikachu wasn't sure if he should be happy to be greeted with such affection or worried that he might not survive Peachy's reciprocated feelings.

Delia stood straight, remaining between the two Persian. "Honestly, I don't know if these two were passionately making out or trying to kill each other. Either way, they'll make a mess if left alone." After the revelation escaped her lips, Delia became absorbed in an instant conversation with Jessie and James about the baby Eevee, who gained another new friend in Swablu. No one seemed to be paying attention to the protests, arguments and embarrassed excuses from the two Persian.

The chitchat that had invaded the entrance to the gym office didn't seem to be going away any time in the immediate future. As soon as it looked like it would quiet down as all the immediate curiosities were answered, Laiki, who wanted to know much more than was her business, would come up with something to ask, fueling the chain reaction of one question or comment that led to another. The scene continued in such a way until Delia noticed that Giovanni was looking less than patient and before he told everyone to shut up and get lost, she led them away in a much more gentle manner. 

In the end, Ash himself didn't think too much, or maybe even take notice of how he had ran off with Jessie, James, Comet, Pixel, Laiki and the pokemon, with a carefree, "thanks for returning my hat, see you later, dad."

Giovanni barely took notice of it himself, letting it go as something that should have been natural, but would not seem so if the entirety of the situation was taken into consideration. He had a long day and the headache he had been fighting, which he somehow seemed to defeat during his strangely calming conversation with Ash, returned full force when the multitude of voices gathered in front of his office. Overall, the most inviting thing to do at the moment was to follow the suggestion in Delia's eyes and take a small break.

xoxox xox xoxox

After having left Giovanni and Delia alone, the rest of the group headed off to find some safe but comfortable space for the pokemon to play in. It was not too difficult given the size of the base, thus the group occupied an empty battle arena that was not scheduled to be used by anyone in the next few hours. It was there that James pointed out how casual Ash had become with Giovanni. The fact that he acted so naturally around uniformed Rocket agents as well his and Misty's acceptance of Jessie and James' return to Team Rocket, hinted that they knew more than Jessie and James guessed. 

Ash nodded in admittance, glancing at the baby pokemon whom Meowth was currently keeping an eye on. Then he looked back at Jessie and James and dropped the bomb of a revelation on them. "The truth is that Giovanni isn't my stepfather because he's dating mom, he's my real dad."

Two jaws dropped and two sets of eyes went wide. "Are you saying you have the blood of the Roketto running through your veins?" James grabbed Ash by his shirt, face inches away from his.

"Um... yeah..." Ash tried to back away to recover his personal space after James invaded it in his outburst. Before Ash could move, James moved first, falling backwards, fainting from the shock, an action which was copied by Meowth who had overheard. He had been trying to steal pokemon from a twerp that was not a twerp, but a prince in a sense. "Is he going to be okay?" Ash asked.

Jessie nodded without doubts, she was currently in a carefree mood. "He'll be fine, don't worry. Now it all makes sense. No wonder we couldn't steal your Pikachu, you're not just a twerp, you're a royal twerp!" Jessie giggled, which made Ash think that his question should have been about if she was okay. Yet as long as her fearsome enraged side didn't show up, it could be said that all was well.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash returned to the gym's guest room above ground to check on Misty after leaving his pokemon and his mother's Swablu to play. Upon entering the guest room, Ash found that Misty was awake. The bathroom door was open with the sound of the sink's running water as Misty finished waking herself up by washing her face. She dried her face with a soft towel and smiled upon seeing Ash's approaching reflection in the bathroom mirror, though some worries still remained in the back of her mind. "After a nap, I'm ready to continue hoping." Misty set aside the towel, returning Ash's loving embrace. 

"That's good, because we can't lose hope, no matter what." Feeling optimistic with the return of his hat and more so with the conversation accompanying the event, Ash kissed his fiance as if the action would magically make everything right in the world.

After their lips parted, Misty voiced the observation that she had noticed right away after Ash came into view. "You got your hat back."

Hearing the fortunate event being further recognized, Ash grinned, "yeah, dad had it in his office all along." It was than that he noticed that he seemed to have switched from a somewhat uncomfortable 'father' to a more carefree 'dad'. "We have our differences and there are things we would strongly disagree on," Ash didn't have to say what he was talking about, as Misty knew right away. "We can still get along, even with that. We can figure out a way to be tolerant, I think, to respect each other's paths..." He would not trick himself into thinking it would be easy, but both he and his mother were certainly willing to try. He knew his father would try too if they were patient.

"I'm really glad that's working out," Misty's face conveyed her sincere emotions.

"Jessie and James are here," Ash announced, "Pikachu and the pokemon are with them, Comet, Pixel and Laiki. We're taking a break from everything and letting the pokemon play. It should help us relax, let's go with them. Since you already know so much, I'm sure it won't be a problem if you come downstairs." Ash was not aware of how deep the basements were yet. He knew about the existence of secret basements, albeit his guess of their size would still fall short and he had not yet tested the limits of his access card. Delia's access card had been upgraded on several occasions since her unofficial return to Team Rocket.

"I'm going back to Cerulean City," Misty's voice was once again filled with sadness as she confessed her determination. "Daisy and Lando are back, they're there too and so is Brock. I need to go help, but I can't take my healthy pokemon with me and risk them catching the virus. I'll leave them here with you. I won't come back until this is over. Until then, I need to stand by their side, my sisters and the pokemon at the Cerulean gym need me the most right now. I know my other pokemon are in good hands with you."

Ash didn't want Misty to leave, though he understood her need to go. "I want to go too, I want to help."

"I know you understand that you can't go," Misty finished for him. "You need to stay and protect the pokemon that are here, keep them safe from the risk of the virus. We'll both work together and things will turn out alright in the end." Even if she seemed to be in the verge of tears, Misty made herself smile.

"Yes, everything will be okay," Ash spoke those words to reassure Misty and himself. "I understand," it was obvious he still didn't like it, but he knew it had to be this way. "I'll take care of your pokemon here. Go and help the pokemon at the gym. I'm sure I'll be able to call you with good news soon."

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Delia and Giovanni were up on the roof of the Viridian gym. The abundant trees around the city, made it seem later into the day than it actually was, blocking the sunlight. Just like in the past, Delia seemed to be a reassuring light in the middle of uncertainty. "You're wearing the ring," Giovanni observed.

"Yes," Delia glanced at her left hand where the platinum diamond ring sat proudly on her ring finger. She fingered the underside of the band with her thumb. "I just felt like wearing it." Her eyes met his in the tranquility of the roof, where the busy atmosphere of the secret basements couldn't reach them.

"Does that mean that you're finally going to give me an answer?" As it happened in that moment long ago, when he first gave Delia that ring, Giovanni forgot about the timing and voiced his thoughts, temporarily pushing aside all other happenings for that instant. 

Delia smiled, her lips parted to give way to words, with endless hope and love reflected in her eyes. Then a shape akin to a missile flew past them towards the area in the sky above. It made Delia's words dissolve before they could truly be formed as she held on to Giovanni tighter, startled by the sudden interruption. A brilliant green firework exploded above with a loud bang. Passers on the street, who were previously oblivious to the couple on the roof, stopped to look. Some pointed at them and others produced cameras from their bags or took pictures with their cell phones.

Among the commotion, there was Rune Antilles, who had been carrying the pyrotechnic sample. It worked with an integrated trigger rather than a fuse to light. He wanted to see firsthand which fireworks were best to celebrate when his son won the elections. Kenobi would no doubt be elected as the new mayor, since it was Giovanni's will. Rune dropped the firework upon hearing the words of his son, who was walking next to him. "You can't go to Cerulean City now, the elections are around the corner and Giovanni has already decided that he wouldn't give me another term in office after all. It's your turn now; it's your duty to serve the city in place of your retired father!"

"I have to go, I already explained it to you, please understand." Kenobi tried to sound as reassuring as he could. "I'm sure the situation will be solved before my term in office begins. By then I would have returned to Viridian City with time to prepare for my new duties. Either way, we should not discuss this here," Kenobi quickly warned. He was generally more careful than Rune when it came to words.

"Yes, yes, I know," Rune sighed deeply as he searched for a small bottle containing his heart medicine in the pocket of his suit. His son's warning seemed to be lost. "You had to lie to your dear Violet to uphold our oath of silence. Now that you have been given permission to right that wrong and tell her the truth about our leader, in light of the recent happenings involving-" 

"Rune!" Giovanni shouted from the gym's roof, instantly catching the current mayor's attention. "Shut up!"

"Yes, sir!" Rune squeaked and scurried away towards his house.

"My apologies!" Kenobi soon followed his father and hurried away as well.

Thankfully, the passers were ignorant of the hidden meaning of the conversation that had been held by the Antilles father and son. Their attention was focused more so on the couple on the roof. They assumed that the gym leader was only upset because the firework going off interrupted a tender moment he was sharing with his lady.

After that annoying little event, Giovanni knew they would get no peace or privacy on the roof. He and Delia returned inside and went to Giovanni's room at the gym. "All these interruptions remind me of when we first met Rune." Giovanni's voice was filled with annoyance.

The memory was amusing to Delia. "I remember, you two were good friends right from the start."

"That's the biggest sarcasm I've ever heard," Giovanni replied with less annoyance than his initial comment. It was probably due to Delia removing the jacket of his suit and massaging his shoulders in an effort to help him relax.

xoxox xox xoxox

The day when Giovanni first met Rune was a day quite similar to the present in terms of weather and hour. However, the epidemic of that time was meeting its end along with the other gangs of Kanto. Team Rocket was beginning its steady growth and the elections were approaching to assign a new mayor to Viridian City. The gym building was a different one, the one that was demolished in later years during Ash's battle against Jessie and James for an Earth badge. A younger Rune Antilles stood in front of the gym structure and bellowed at the top of his lungs, "new gym leader! New gym leader!"

At the time, Giovanni and Delia had been taking a moment to rest, since they had both stayed out late battling to wipe out the last few gangs left in Kanto, to establish Team Rocket's firm rule of the underworld. They were cuddled together in bed, while their baby Meowth was taken out to play by his uncle Luke. Delia said her usual line of "chill out Charmander," accentuated with a pleasurable gasp as Giovanni trailed kisses down her neck.

"You're not exactly chilling out yourself," he whispered seductively in her ear. 

Delia knew very well that the insistence of her statement would be lost in the fact that her arms were tightly wrapped around him with no intentions of letting go, her legs brushing against his as they became further tangled in their passionate embrace. Then a voice from outside called out with unbreakable insistence for the new gym leader to come out. "Someone's calling you."

"Ignore him," despite his request, Giovanni was unable to ignore the insistent voice himself. Fed up with the idiot that was interrupting that most enjoyable moment with Delia, Giovanni approached the window. He threw the curtains left and right, then looked out at the man, a few years older than him. He stood waiting with a large practiced smile upon his face that only made Giovanni angrier.

"Good afternoon honorable new gym leader of Viridian City!" The man chirped with more cheer than needed. "Allow me to take this opportunity to greet you properly and welcome you as the new gym leader of our proud city of Viridian. My name is Rune Antilles and as you might have heard, I am running for mayor again in the next elections. I hope to count with your vote and promise to continue making this wonderful city a better place." The mayor candidate continued bantering on and on about his political promises and aspirations.

"Rune," Giovanni gave the mayor candidate a firm glare that caught his attention and silenced him even before he threateningly ordered, "shut up!"

It was then that Rune's brain jumpstarted and he thought that maybe the delay in the gym leader's reply was not due to not having heard his calls before. He took in the young man's state from what he could see through the window from the waist up, noticing his mostly unbuttoned shirt and somewhat ruffled hair. Had he been woken up from a nap thus causing him to be cranky? The nap theory was soon proven false as a young woman peeked out the window behind the young gym leader, her face somewhat flustered. Rune blushed crimson as his imagination came up with all sorts of theories to fit the scene. He could only squeak, "yes, sir!" And run away before he further ruined his public relations with the new gym leader.

xoxox xox xoxox

Though they did eventually become lovers, that was not the only time in which annoying interruptions plagued Giovanni's time of romance with Delia. There was the occasional new recruit knocking on his door to ask a stupid question that should have gone to a higher ranked agent instead of directly to the boss. Such was the case in a similar afternoon when rookie after rookie came in to ask about something or other. It was a particularly busy week in several areas of business both legal and secret, leaving the top ranked Rockets all over Kanto. Archer and Ariana had just recently married and left on their honey moon. 

Proton and Petrel were taking care of some business in Vermillion City. Leah was all but forgotten, running errands and taking care of a few smaller missions until her strategic thinking was once again called upon. Aayla had insisted on helping the scientists along with Binks, despite battling being more her strength than research. She had her own hidden agenda, but that was still unknown at the time. Giovanni had allowed it, reasoning that the scientists, though brilliant in their field, would be sitting Farfetch'd if anything went wrong and they were attacked by remnants of a gang. If that was the case, Aayla would be very helpful in the battlefield. 

The situation left Luke as the highest ranked agent present at headquarters. Thus he was the mediator between the boss and the rookies. He could make all the choices that were too big for the lower ranked agents, yet not significant enough for Giovanni to have to be directly involved. Even so, agents kept coming and going seeking information and instructions from Giovanni until he blew up. "I told you to take your questions to Luke!"

"I'm sorry, sir," the rookie backed away. "It's just that no one can find Luke anywhere."

Not in the mood to be tolerant with unforeseen disappearances, Giovanni called Luke's cell phone to demand to know where he was, but received no reply other than endless unattended rings. A search began all over the old Viridian headquarters, which were not yet anywhere near as large as they would be years later. Luke was finally found in his room, buried under his collection of surf boards which he had piled up unsteadily and thus they had later fallen on him. Luke was exhausted from spending the night surfing in stormy weather quite different from the sunshine that came with daybreak. He put away his most recently used surf board upon his return earlier, causing the pile to crumble on top of him like an avalanche. Too tired to get up, he fell asleep under the surfboards and was since thought to be missing. 

When he was finally rescued, Luke could do nothing more than go and on about how the waves have been "like totally like beyond awesome" while Giovanni grumbled about all the interruptions he had to endure due to the newbies not being able to find Luke. 

xoxox xox xoxox

In the present time, Giovanni had let go of the burst of anger and intensified headache that came due to Rune's clumsy blunder. At least there had been no more interruptions since that one, which granted him some enjoyable alone time with Delia. He knew he would have to go to work soon, despite being quite comfortable with Delia in his arms, their bodies pressed together. Giovanni thought Delia had fallen asleep, her eyes were closed and her expression was peaceful, as if she was enjoying a blissful dream. Then her eyes opened slowly as she shifted to meet his gaze. She smiled somewhat playfully and voiced a reply that have taken years to be spoken, "I will."

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, at the western edge of Kanto, in the famed Mount Silver, two Rocket agents were conducting an important search. "Hurry up Batch, we have to be the first ones to find the target. If we don't get this mission right, the boss will demote us!"

Butch frowned with a sorrow that only he understood. "I thought you learned my name by now." Cassidy sometimes got his name right and sometimes got it wrong. She at least got it right more often than most other people did. 

"Shut up and give me a push!" Cassidy growled at the end of her patience. She saw a rocky ledge on the side of the mountain trail that looked as if it had enough grip available to climb it, thus providing a shortcut to higher grounds. 

With a hopeless sigh, Butch linked his hands together intertwining his fingers to catch Cassidy's foot and propel her upwards towards the ledge she meant to grasp. The motion was mostly successful, except for the knee to the nose Butch received. At least Cassidy managed to get herself up the cliff and begrudgingly extended her hand down the cliff side to help Butch up.

The pair quietly crept deeper into the rocky wilderness until they saw one of the targets. Number ten was no where in sight, but the unusually colored Zoroark was there. The Zoroark noticed them and with a fast push that they didn't have time to dodge, she sent them both tumbling down the mountain. 

When their painful rolling trip down finally came to an end, Cassidy and Butch sat up, examining the various scratches and bruises that were abundant all over their battered bodies. Thankfully, they suffered from no broken bones. Cassidy was quick to pull out her cell phone from its strap on her belt next to her pokeballs. She dialed for a direct call to Giovanni's cell phone, listening to it ring several times before his annoyed voice declared, "this better be important."

"It is!" Cassidy assured, "I've located Zoroark close to the summit of Mount Silver."

"Don't you mean to say we located her?" Butch complained. He was ignored as Cassidy listened to Giovanni's orders over the phone.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 98: Give me Care

The sound of a helicopter just outside the Viridian gym caught Ash's attention. He was heading back after parting ways with Misty for the time being. He had watched as the taxi disappeared in the distance, knowing that the situation at the Cerulean gym would not remain a secret for too long. He still respected her wish to not want to add worry to that which was already present and didn't speak of it. After all, the need for a cure was already urgent enough for Team Rocket to pool all its resources towards finding it. As for the mysterious Zoroark, Ash wanted to join the search but realized that he couldn't risk his pokemon catching the virus. Besides, Team Rocket probably had enough personnel to conduct a detailed search anyway. Wherever Zoroark was, they would find her.

Boarding the helicopter were Giovanni, Delia, Luke and Comet. Ash quickly approached it, as it seemed that it was about to take off. "Where are you going?"

Delia revealed the news, knowing what that would cause. "We're going to find Zoroark. We're not taking the pokemon; they'll be staying here with Jessie, James, Pixel and Laiki." A lot could be concluded by reading between the lines. Despite Binks' faith in Aayla having the cure, there was no guarantee that an antidote could be produced from her cell samples. She would exhaust her energy quickly healing countless pokemon one after the other. Just in case, it was best to keep the pokemon safe. The Rocket agents that reported to Viridian were tested for the virus and sent away to an isolated underground area to be healed before having access to the rest of the base. The way to remove the virus from humans, who carried it but were not affected by it anyway, had already been discovered. However, the medicine didn't work for pokemon. By sneaking the serum into food supplies the human population was quickly being healed. Yet the virus no longer needed humans to spread, it was enough for it to spread from one pokemon to another.

"I'm going too!" Ash joined the group in the helicopter just as Delia guessed he would. His voice left no room for argument, albeit no one had any intentions of refusing his presence in the mission anyway.

xoxox xox xoxox

The helicopter landed atop Mount Silver and its passengers quickly exited the flying vehicle. Giovanni had ordered Cassidy and Butch, referring to him as Botch, not to approach the Zoroark. If she teleported away again, valuable time would be wasted searching for her and no progress would be made. If she truly was Aayla, maybe seeing people she was once familiar with would make her stay and cooperate. Capturing her by force had been proven useless in the past, before her identity was discovered. Attempting to overpower her was useless with her confusing illusions that had allowed her to slip away. With teleportation being added to her list of abilities, it didn't matter if she was as powerful as a regular pokemon, more, or less, she was simply too sneaky to be caught. It fit her in a sense, she had been a thief and criminal in the distant past, able to make close escapes and slip away from almost any situation.

A short way just beneath the summit of Mount Silver, there was a cave where they hoped to find Aayla. She was indeed there, the same majestic black pokemon with a deep violet mane. Number ten was no where to be seen and Aayla was exhausted and injured. It looked as if she had fought the mutant and was unable to defeat him. However, there was a look of peaceful accomplishment on her face, as if her purpose had been fulfilled. 

"Aayla!" Delia rushed to her friend. She had never been able to let go of the guilt she felt for that time Aayla was apparently lost at sea. It was perhaps better that way, for her to finish her transformation away from Team Rocket's evolution. 

Aayla stumbled forward, holding a glowing glass orb in her paw. The base with the words written in ancient language was no longer attached to it, but the swirling colors inside it were the same. That orb had been found by archeologists, dug out from the deep ground like a mysterious hidden treasure that would later become lost once again. The priceless ancient artifact was stolen from a museum by an unknown thief. The unidentified thief then sold the artifact to a mysterious lady. If the lady knew of the orb's power or not is anyone's guess. In the end, she passed the artifact to her son. He knew not of its power and could not remember it after the first time he experienced it. 

As Aayla fell forward, unconscious, Delia rushed to catch her. The orb that Giovanni had thrown away years ago slipped out from Aayla's grasp. The item hit the rocky mountain cave ground and shattered upon impact into four inexplicably nearly equal parts. Four wisps of light escaped from the encasement red, blue, yellow and gray. In a split second, the light collided with Giovanni, Ash, Luke and Comet. The four succumbed to an irresistible sleep and collapsed, leaving a worried Delia to wonder what in the world was going on.

xoxox xox xoxox

One second Ash, Giovanni, Luke and Comet were at a cave in Mount Silver and the next they were freefalling through the sky. A bright light shot out from the air near by, where Ash should have been. The light reached out for the skies as if wanting to tare apart an invisible wall between dimensions. The light was far too bright and the other three had to close their eyes. 

When Giovanni opened his eyes again he was alone, still falling towards the rapidly approaching ground covered in trees. It was certainly not Mount Silver that he was falling towards and it wasn't the Viridian forest either. He moved on instinct, not realizing what he was doing. As a result, the fall somehow slowed down, allowing Giovanni to safely glide into a clearing. "What happened?" His surroundings felt completely alien to him and he had a very strange sensation in his body that he couldn't push away. "Delia? Ash? Luke? Comet?" No one replied when he called. "Aayla? Did you do this? Are you out there?" There was still no reply. Uncertain of what to do, Giovanni began to walk.

As he walked, Giovanni became more aware of how different his body felt and started to remember a dream. Delia was in his dream, but she was a Mew. Upon examining himself more closely, having awakened from the daze he was left in by the harsh fall, he noticed that he was no longer human. "How is this possible?" He stared at his red-orange claws then spun around in circles until he caught his flaming tail. Was that strange dream that suddenly came into his mind a hidden memory? Was Delia transformed into a Mew? He had not seen her falling, perhaps she was still back at Mount Silver with Aayla. "Maybe I'm still at Mount Silver too, in a coma of crazy dreams after somehow hitting my head."

On the bright side, at least he was no longer a little Charmander. Giovanni extended his wings, stretching them out. He was sure he saw Ash, Luke and Comet falling, but after that light faded, they were gone. He felt as if the light had created a sort of shockwave that pushed him away. Maybe they had all been pushed in different directions and turned to pokemon, hopefully pokemon that could fly. Regardless of how strange and random the situation felt, Giovanni concluded that it was best to regroup and hopefully, figure out a way to get back home in the process. Dream or not, he might as well try to do something.

Thinking about having a better look at the surrounding area from the air, under conditions in which imminent death wasn't a distraction, Giovanni spread his wings and tried to fly. Unfortunately he could not. He flapped his wings madly and managed to hover, but flying like that would be terribly exhausting and ineffective. He tried to let his instinct guide him to fly, but it didn't work. Annoyed, Giovanni resigned himself to walking through the forest. He was careful with his tail so as to not cause a forest fire and get caught in the middle of it.

xoxox xox xoxox

After a long walk, Giovanni finally made it out of the thick forest. He spotted a somewhat familiar looking village ahead and hurried towards it. The village seemed rather empty, but he heard a multitude of voices near by, so there had to be someone around. He followed the sounds past the central plaza towards a pond, where he recalled that a Whiscash resided. He couldn't see Whiscash at the moment because of all the other pokemon gathered around the pond, obstructing his view. They seemed to be fussing about something. "What's going on?"

"It's that Pikachu!" A near by Granbull replied, his voice almost lost among the multiple conversations going on. "A Pikachu fell from the sky and no one knows who he is. We've gathered here to talk about what should be done about him. That poor Pikachu seems to be badly injured."

Giovanni felt as if he had frozen, despite being a fire type pokemon. The flame on his tail was slightly reduced as he urgently inquired, "where is he?"

"He's in the home of Team Chiray," the Granbull replied, then took the time to notice that he wasn't talking to one of his village neighbors. "You're new around here, aren't you? Wait a minute, I think I've met you before, did you happen to visit this village before you evolved?"

Granbull received no answer, Giovanni was already hurrying away from the pond and past the plaza. He headed for the little hut just outside the village. It was near there where he and Delia had appeared during their first trip to that strange world.

xoxox xox xoxox

The door to the hut burst open followed by the sound of Giovanni bumping his head on the doorframe. He lowered his head and entered the hut to be greeted by an angry shout of, "you can't just rush in here!" The owner of the voice was the same female Pikachu with pale yellow fur and pink cheeks that Giovanni and Delia had met before. The Charmeleon was there as well, he looked as though he was strong enough to evolve, but resisted evolution. There was also a Leafeon present, whom Giovanni had previously met as an Eevee.

Giovanni's attention was focused on the Pikachu that lay unconscious in a pile of soft leaves in the center of the little hut. "Ash?" He approached the Pikachu. The light that came from Ash had been similar to an aura sphere that became mixed with thunderbolts before he could no longer look at the brightness.

"Do you know him?" Charmeleon asked, before the female Pikachu picked a fight with the somewhat familiar newcomer that had rushed into their home.

"He's... my son," Giovanni concluded, too focused on the current issue to think about the irony of a Charmander and a Mew somehow breeding a Pikachu. The logic of the living world seemed to be lost to the mysteries of that world of souls. 

"He is?" the female Pikachu seemed to back down for a moment and observe the Charizard. "Wait a minute, I know I've seen you before, but I can't quite place it." She didn't question the part about a Charizard being the father of a Pikachu, since she herself had raised an Eevee, who later became a Leafeon, with a Charmeleon as the father. They were not Leafeon's biological parents, but that didn't matter to any of them.

"Giovanni, the human," Giovanni automatically revealed, with the past memories of that world becoming more vivid as time passed. Simultaneously, the sense of who he was in the plane of existence of Team Rocket became a little more blurry, but he held on to it as strongly as he could.

"So it was you," Pikachu recalled, "your mate, she was called Delia, right? Is she with you too? She must be worried about him as well... Ash, was it?" She glanced at the unconscious Ash. "Unfortunately he won't wake up, so we can't feed him any berries to help him recover."

"We've patched up his injuries the best we could, but his energy seems to be dangerously low," Charmeleon revealed. 

"I still say evolution will wake him up," Leafeon voiced.

Charmeleon shook his head in resignation, "there are no thunder stones left in the village. They appear in the land now and then, but they're not in season."

It was obvious that Ash couldn't wait much longer to be healed. He had nothing to rely on but the rustic methods of that world. "I'll find a thunder stone," Giovanni decided. He had no idea how he would accomplish the task, but he knew Ash's life was in danger and a thunder stone might be his only hope.

"Not to be pessimistic, but I honestly doubt there are any left," Charmeleon voiced. "Maybe Ash will wake up and eat some berries to feel better. If you still want to try to find the thunder stone, we could go see the Kecleon brothers and ask them for some clues."

"Did someone call us?" Two Kecleon, one green and one purple stood at the open door to the hut. "We came to see if you needed more berries to help your guest get better," the green one explained.

"It looks like he's still sleeping," the purple Kecleon observed, "he won't be able to eat berries like that."

"Do you two know where I can find a thunder stone?" Giovanni quickly asked.

The Kecleon brothers unanimously shook their heads. "We don't have any in stock," the green one informed.

"The customers that bought this year's supply of thunder stones have already used them by now. The stones gave their power and became like normal rocks," the purple one explained.

"Unless he is still collecting them," the green Kecleon theorized, "never mind, it's just a rumor."

"Who? Where?" Giovanni urgently insisted.

"Some time ago a very mean Drapion came to the village," the purple Kecleon narrated. "He had been hiding away for some time in a distant part of the world, getting ready to attack. When he came, we fought back and drove him away. Team Chiray was there too and all the teams from the village. Even if the village was saved in the end, some damage was still made and things were stolen. There were rumors that Drapion was trying to collect many evolutionary stones to give as payment to pokemon who would help him fight. Also, he wanted to make those pokemon that battled in his behalf stronger. He was defeated, but many of the things he stole were never recovered and might have not been used." 

The green Kecleon continued the story, "there's a rumor that Drapion has a hideout somewhere and is waiting for the right time to attack again. We'll be ready for him if he comes." Realizing that the story was getting off topic, he returned to the subject of the thunder stone. "There might be a thunder stone in Drapion's hideout, but no one knows if that's true or where the hideout is."

"Except maybe Skitty," Leafeon mused aloud. "I'm not sure if it's true or not, but I heard Skitty saying she once followed Drapion to his hideout. She also said Drapion had no more allies so he probably wouldn't try to cause trouble again any time soon."

"Where is this Skitty?" One small clue led to another as each pokemon had a little information to contribute. 

"She's probably in the flower garden at the plains northeast of the village. I'm not really sure if she truly followed Drapion. She did seem like she would be easy to miss, so maybe she was able to follow him without being caught," Leafeon explained.

"Even if the information isn't confirmed, it's all there is," Giovanni had no choice but to follow the available clues. "I'll leave Ash here and fly to Drapion's hideout," if he could figure out how to fly, it would certainly speed things along. 

"We'll take care of Ash," the female Pikachu assured. "If you find the hideout and want backup, throw a fireball to the sky and we'll follow the signal," as usual, she was ready to jump into battle.

xoxox xox xoxox

The plains northeast of the pokemon village had many flowers, but Skitty was nowhere to be found. 'This is hopeless, is it even truly real? Why do I remember things I didn't remember before? There's something else, another memory in the back of my mind fighting to come out...' Setting the thoughts aside for a moment, Giovanni called out to the pokemon he hoped had the next clue of his unusual journey, "Skitty! Skitty, are you here?"

"I'm here," a small feminine voice came from the ground. Giovanni looked down between the pink flowers to where a Skitty was almost invisible among the flora. She really was easy to miss. She reminded him of someone, small, quiet and sneaky.

"I need to find Drapion and get a thunder stone. I heard you knew where his hideout was," Giovanni got right to the point.

The small Skitty shyly nodded, "yes, it's true. It was because of Liepard," she revealed. "He got hurt during a cave in trying to keep me safe. For a time I thought I had lost him, but later I heard he no longer remembered who he was. He ended up helping Drapion without knowing what he was doing. During the battle of the village against Drapion, Liepard recovered his memories and turned against that mean Drapion. The pokemon of the village still distrusted him even after it was over, so he left. I lost track of him, so I followed Drapion to see if Liepard had gone back there, maybe to get revenge on Drapion for tricking him. He wasn't there and I don't know where Liepard went, maybe he started over somewhere far away, but I have no idea where he is. You are not from here, have you seen him? Do you know where he could be?"

"I haven't seen who you're looking for," Giovanni had seen Liepard, but that was in his own world. He didn't think any of those were the specific pokemon Skitty was searching for. "I need to get to Drapion's hideout and get a thunder stone fast."

"You sound like you really need it," Skitty observed. "If you cross the forest towards the south and keep going southeast, you'll find a waterfall. There is a cave behind it where Drapion was hiding when I followed him. It's a long way from here."

"That's no problem, I'll fly there," Giovanni flapped his wings to no avail. "I just need to find a good spot to use as a runway."

It didn't seem like the Skitty fully understood his flying troubles since she herself didn't know anything about flying, "good luck."

"Leah?" Giovanni paused and shook his head to clear it, the Skitty looked confused, albeit she had an expression of familiarity on her face, "never mind..." It was odd, but the pokemon really did remind him of Leah, who had passed away all those years ago. If the story was more than a coincidence, then that would make Liepard similar to Han. It was only a general similarity anyway and it made little sense to someone who didn't have a full understanding of that world. Only an exceptional few could hope to begin to understand the mysteries of that plane of existence.

xoxox xox xoxox

A small distance further to the northeast, Giovanni saw a cliff with another little hut on it. Pelipper came and went from the little hut as if it were some kind of post office. Giovanni stood at the edge of the cliff and looked towards the distance. No one tried to stop him, since the Charizard's actions seemed harmless enough. Taking a deep breath, he jumped from the cliff and spread his wings. The wind of the fall pushed his wings up causing him to glide. Trying to keep his wings stretched out, he flapped them rhythmically until he got the hang of it.

Stretching out his neck and tail in the most aerodynamic position he could muster, Giovanni sped through the skies towards the south. He hoped to see the waterfall Skitty mentioned as soon as possible. Flying by his own power was an amazing feeling, though he had no time to bask in it given his haste to find Drapion's hideout and hopefully a thunder stone. 

Some time later, Giovanni spotted a waterfall on a mountain side that looked like it could be the one he was searching for. He landed in front of it, finally resting his wings. He looked at the flame on his tail and at the water. It gave him a bad feeling, akin to a warning of survival instinct, just by looking at it. "I'm a fire type and that's water, this isn't good, but there's no other choice." Shielding his flaming tail as much as possible, Giovanni rushed in behind the waterfall. He was glad to find, not a solid wall behind it, but a secret cave. Unfortunately, water kept dripping from the cave's ceiling, which made him very uncomfortable. 

Giovanni went deeper into the waterfall cave until he heard an angry voice calling out, "who's there?" The voice was somehow familiar, but the memory was distant. Without replying, he hurried towards the deeper area of the cave, where he heard the voice echoing from. As he arrived he saw Drapion. "I knew I heard someone, have you come here to join my gang?"

"I'm here for a thunder stone," there were several evolutionary stones in a small pile behind Drapion. Giovanni couldn't see if there was a thunder stone among them or not. There might be one under the others, he had to make sure.

"A thunder stone wouldn't make you stronger," Drapion stated as a matter of fact. "Just now it sounded as if you wanted to challenge me. Look around, you're at a disadvantage in this cave where water leeks out from the ceiling all the time. It's like being under the rain."

"It's only light rain and I am challenging you for a thunder stone," Giovanni threatened, "I will win."

"I'll show you true power!" Drapion shouted angrily.

'Venom, that's who he reminds me of, but it doesn't look like he knows anything beyond being a Drapion. Maybe their similarities are only a coincidence,' Giovanni thought as he got ready for battle.

xoxox xox xoxox

Aside from Ash and Giovanni, Luke and Comet were also thrown into that mysterious world. After that strange light that came from Ash faded, the group was separated while still falling. Comet saw a Gligar heading towards him as his shape changed into that of an Absol. Since the orb was broken, their souls in their out of body experience went through a harsher entrance into that world. Comet, completely turned into an Absol, was falling fast. Fortunately the Gligar was able to catch him and get him to the ground safely. 

"You saved me, thank you," Comet told the pokemon. "How did I end up falling?"

"This is another place, a good place, but I don't think you're supposed to be here. Your body is still back in the other world, isn't it? Not mine, mine is gone, dissolved into nothing, it was her doing. I don't hate her for it, because it means I can stay here. Nothing scares me here; I don't feel angry anymore, this place is peaceful." Gligar looked as if he had been waiting for such peace for a long time. 

"I don't understand what you're talking about, but a talking pokemon is really rare. I've only seen one other like that." Comet was referring to the Meowth who was always with Jessie and James.

"Take a good look at yourself," Gligar waited for the reaction that soon came.

"I'm a pokemon? How did this happen?" Comet poked the horn sticking out of the side of his head with his paw. He wondered if an Absol would feel out of balance with one. Yet the long thick white fur on his other side seemed to balance things well enough, since the horn was lighter than he imagined.

"I don't understand it myself. I only know that you're not supposed to be here if you still have a body back there," Gligar seemed to speak in riddles that left many questions unanswered. "It's your business if you want to go back. I don't know why I caught you. I guess I don't completely blame you for being luckier than me, but I'm still jealous because you were absolved from everything that I had to suffer," Gligar began to leave.

Confused by his words, Comet quickly followed. "Who are you? Can you at least tell me that?"

"I was never given a name there. I'm starting to forget it all. I'm sure I'll forget about it entirely eventually. That's alright, I don't want to remember that time anyway," Gligar started to fly. "It was like waking up from a nightmare. I won't be going back and I won't think of that world anymore. Unlike me, it looks like you do have a place there. I don't, so I'll just have to forget about it, the world, the pain, the fear and you too, my so called brother." Extending the wings under his claws, Gligar gained altitude.

"Ten, you're the one known as number ten. When you said it was her doing, you were talking about Aayla, right? Then she must know what all this is about," Comet concluded. "How do I go back, how do I become human again?"

"You're on your own, I have a new life to live," Gligar flew away and disappeared in the distance.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 99: Give me Importance

The water dripped from the ceiling all over the rocky floor of the cave behind the waterfall. Giovanni, transformed into a Charizard, was preparing to battle against Venom. The past Tempest leader had appeared in that world as a Drapion with no memories of his former human self. He could have a thunder stone hidden in his stash, which would be needed to help Ash recover. Giovanni started off the fight with a flamethrower attack. Unfortunately, he was feeling the effect of the water falling on him like a constant light, but significant rain. The attack was diminished further as the flame dissolved almost completely into smoke. What was left of the fire was easily dodged by the Drapion. Venom took the opportunity to fight back, rushing forward and spinning to try to hit Giovanni with his tail in a poison sting attack. 

Giovanni jumped back, avoiding the deadly tail of his Drapion opponent. The collision of Venom's tail on the rocky surface left a noticeable indentation with its force. Stumbling back and nearly tripping over his own tail in his haste, Giovanni tried to recover as fast as he could. He knew the environment had him at a disadvantage and fire attacks would not be very effective in that cave. He doubted Venom would follow him out if he tried to lead him away. If anything, he might try to use the waterfall to his advantage, but probably wouldn't leave the protection of the humid cave. If fire attacks weren't working, he would just have to do something else. Giovanni was on the attack again, this time with dragon claw. Unfortunately the Drapion's skin was like armor and hard to pierce.

"You can't win!" Venom taunted as he attacked again. The Drapion's tail collided with its target this time, inflicting poison on Giovanni. Combining the effect of the poison with the wet atmosphere was very bad for the Charizard. He felt weakened, as if he could barely stand. "You lost," Venom prepared to finish the fight with Venoshock, an attack that would be made more powerful by the fact that Giovanni was poisoned. 

In a desperate attempt to defend himself, Giovanni went on a wild attack with flare blitz at point blank. Venom's attack was interrupted by the fire. Despite the humid atmosphere working against the element of fire, the attack was so close to the target that it barely had time to lose strength. Unfortunately it took a great effort and Giovanni could barely push himself to attack again. He knew he couldn't let what could be his only opportunity escape. Refusing to give up, with his competitive spirit and determination at its maximum despite the disadvantage he was in, Giovanni went all out with one final dragon rage attack.

The last attack overpowered Venom, who lost consciousness. Weakened severely, Giovanni struggled to reach the pile of evolutionary stones searching among them for a thunder stone, without which all his efforts would have been in vain. Thankfully, he found one thunder stone in the pile and with it, he set off to leave the cave. It was no easy task to exit the hide out. Giovanni made it past the waterfall hiding the entrance, but the effort proved too great. Just as he landed outside the cave at the river's shore, he collapsed.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Comet had made it to the shores of a beach. He was still confused about his location, but hoped to find some answers when he found his father, Giovanni and Ash. Seeing some pokemon gathered at the beach, he walked over to them and asked if they had met anyone by the names of Luke, Ash or Giovanni. 

"Didn't that newcomer say he was called Luke?" A nearby Simipour commented, "he's a bit unusual, but a great surfer."

"Can you tell me where he is?" Comet inquired; at least he managed to find one of them. But why would his father be surfing at a time like this?

"There he comes!" A Croconaw pointed at the sea where a Floatzel was riding a wave on a rustic surfboard. 

The Floatzel reached the shore after a flawless performance, to be greeted by the cheers of the onlookers. "The waves are like totally awesome, man! I like knew Heaven had to be like totally good, you know? But I like never like imagined it would like be like this great, you know?"

"Dad!" Comet made his way through the crowd of mostly water pokemon. 

Hearing Comet's voice, Floatzel searched for its source among the pokemon gathered there until he spotted the Absol who had his son's voice, a voice much like his own. "Comet? Like why are you like here? You're like too young to like die, you know?"

"We're not dead!" Comet insisted. "Number ten is the one who passed away, kind of. He's here as a Gligar and he seemed happy about it. He's staying in this world, but we need to go back to our own world. We have to find Giovanni and Ash."

xoxox xox xoxox

During his time of partial unconsciousness, Giovanni thought he heard some voices similar to Luke and Comet. He felt as if someone was moving him with difficulty, making slow but steady progress. He wanted to get up, he wanted to open his eyes, but he didn't have the strength to do so. He fell into a deep coma for a while and once again reached a state of half consciousness some time later. He felt a bit of an electric shock, but it wasn't too harsh, just enough to make him growl in annoyance. Then there was another voice like Ash's voice. He was saying something about berries. Another electric shock came, that one stronger. He opened his eyes finally, just barely conscious being forced to wake up by the electricity. 

"That always wakes me up," there was a Raichu holding some berries. "Eat these, they'll make you feel better. 

With no energy to argue, Giovanni ate the berries, soon feeling their beneficial effect. The world around him became clearer as he recovered his strength. "Ash?"

The Raichu looked relieved, "are you okay now? Comet and Luke brought you here. You had a thunder stone, that's how I evolved."

"I'm fine," Giovanni observed Comet and Luke's new forms too.

"Dude, Giovanni, it's like awesome that you're like a Charizard, man! It would be like lots of fun if you could like give me a ride sometime, you know?" Luke, transformed into a Floatzel, grinned in anticipation.

"Oh yes, that would be fun," Giovanni started to reply in a light tone, then his face turned serious, "not happening."

While Luke pouted, Comet explained what had happened to number ten and what he had learned about that world.

"At least ten is taken care of," that was one less problem for Team Rocket to deal with as his plans became a reality. "The last time I was here, I was taken back by Gardevoir in a dream," it sounded strange, but that was what Giovanni's newly uncovered memories revealed. There was also something else, another locked memory that still fought to resurface. 

"Gardevoir spoke to me when we came," Ash revealed. "She said that the orb was a passage between this world and our world. This world is a place of souls where people and pokemon alike wait to be reborn. Everything here is made of energy, projections coming from people's souls. She said something about a collective conscious, I couldn't really understand. The point is that this world is apparently not a physical place of existence."

"Are we like ghosts?" Luke asked, "like actual ghosts, not the pokemon type?"

"Something like that, I think," Ash nodded.

"It fits what ten said," Comet voiced. "When we came the orb was broken, we all saw it fall and shatter. I have a feeling that we should be heading back as soon as possible if we don't want to get stuck here."

"That's right, I don't know for how long the temporary portal will last," Ash agreed. "Gardevoir asked me to help her in making it, to release my energy for it. The portal won't last forever so we need to get over there."

Giovanni snapped out of his deep thoughts as the group made their way outside the hut. He looked up at the area where they had fallen from, the place where Ash released his energy. There was a light up there, shining in every color imaginable, the portal that would lead their souls back to their bodies.

"I can't say I fully understand what's going on, but good luck getting back home," Charmeleon spoke.

"If this place really is the in between of lives, maybe we'll see each other again after some more decades pass," the female Pikachu from Team Chiray commented.

"Yeah, or maybe we'll meet in the other world," Leafeon agreed.

The Raichu who was Ash, smiled hopefully as he usually did during goodbyes, "we'll see each other again one day. I don't know when, but we will." 

Giovanni looked towards the portal and extended his wings feeling more confident about flying after having gotten some experience. "It looks like everyone will be getting a ride after all."

"That's like totally awesome, man!" Luke cheered, even if the detour was strange, it was very amusing to him. Ash, Comet and Luke all climbed on Giovanni's back. 

Giovanni got a running start, jumping and flapping his wings. It took some extra effort to gain altitude, but he fell into a steady pace higher up. He headed for the fading portal just in time to make it through, back to the world were they belonged. As they disappeared, they saw a Gligar watching them. The Gligar flew away as if leaving behind all past ties to Team Rocket, to truly start anew.

xoxox xox xoxox

A few days later at the Viridian Rocket headquarters, Archer entered Giovanni's office with an important announcement, "the antidote is ready. Binks was able to make it with a sample of Aayla's blood cells." The top ranked executive looked at the blinking light on Giovanni's phone. "He tried to call you directly but you wouldn't answer." Though Giovanni was yet to say a word, Archer sat down across from him in front of the large polished desk. "You've been distracted lately, ever since you came back from the mission to find Aayla. I understand that it was a success. Delia convinced her to come back willingly as long as her safety and freedom were assured." He leaned back on the chair, becoming comfortable and letting out a breath. "Don't overanalyze it, that world I mean." Archer, Ariana, Proton and Petrel had heard about Giovanni's experience directly from him. "I think it's best to focus on taking over the living world."

Giovanni, who had been staring off into space, closed his eyes and nodded. "If that place really is a sort of collective consciousness then it would be impossible to overtake it, no matter how strong one's own will may be. Besides, when I was there I had no big ambitions; I suppose it's the nature of that place. I wasn't thinking about that, it's this world that I was thinking of. It's been bothering me since I was there. My memories of my first visit to that mysterious world were locked away for some time. During my second visit they were unlocked. There was also something else, another memory that I can't quite reach yet. There's something hidden in the back of my mind that I feel I should know, but I don't. New Island, the failed Mewtwo project, there's something that doesn't fit."

"The island laboratories were destroyed, the project was determined to be a failure because all the clones died." Archer repeated what was known to them, what they thought had happened. Luke's clones were being kept here at Viridian at the time, thus were spared from when the laboratory was destroyed. Binks spent a long time in recovery. The project was declared as a waste of resources, not something worth pursuing again." Archer paused and allowed those thoughts to sink in. "Are you thinking that with the recent technological advances it might be worth to try again? Unfortunately, we don't have a sample to work with."

Giovanni had been going in circles around the issue for some time. He decided to take different approaches to the dilemma and see if he found any clues that would explain that nagging feeling in the back of his mind. It was as if something came loose, and an avalanche of information was imminent. "I want to meet with all the executives, Binks should be there too."

xoxox xox xoxox

The meeting was swiftly organized as per Giovanni's orders. It was convenient that all the executives and the requested scientist were currently at Viridian. The meeting took place in a more private conference room, one equipped with secured data ports to the most precious secrets of Team Rocket. Each person invited passed their keycard in front of the door's sensor as they went in. 

The polished metallic table had a black mirror-like surface and silver legs, the pipes twisted into decorative shapes akin to abstract modern art. The carpet was plush and thick, in the darkest shade of crimson. The chairs matched the table in colors and style, with a specially designed kind of wheels that ran smoothly on the deep carpet. The walls were not adorned with art, but instead with charts and diagrams bringing to light the current biggest issues and victories of Team Rocket, as well as serving as a reminder of future plans. 

Donuts and coffee were already set in front of each space as the invited shuffled to their seats, setting laptops and agendas on the table in front of them. When there were snacks available from the start, it meant Giovanni wasn't sure how long the meeting would be. It would last until a solution was reached, however long it may take, the issue at hand would not be postponed. However, no specific topic was mentioned to the executives or Binks, in what could be catalogued as the most mysterious and random reunion Giovanni was yet to appoint.

"First of all, I want you all to doubt what you know," Giovanni began in a rather unusual way, once everyone was seated. He was at the end of the oval shaped table. To Giovanni's right sat Archer and next to him Ariana; to his left were Proton, Petrel and Binks. The scientist was recovering his focus at an amazing rate, no longer running away from reality, though he was not without occasional complications. "The first topic of our meeting will be New Island," the Rocket leader revealed. "I want each of you to speak of it one by one; the others will try to find contradictions. Even if you believe that you must have misunderstood something if your version contradicts someone else's I want you to say what you know as you know it." He looked at Binks as if searching for any signs that he should leave the meeting.

"I'm okay," Binks spoke as if reading Giovanni's expression. "I can talk about this. I have no intentions of denying myself the truth. Should I go first?" Giovanni nodded and Binks continued, "Dr. Fuji always spoke of reviving his daughter, Amber, it was his personal project alongside the Mewtwo project. The boys would help provide extra data," he referred to the clones of Luke. "Forgive me, my memories are fuzzy, but this is what I know, Fuji had great hopes. After the accident I was surprised that the project was cancelled. Without such a brilliant colleague as Fuji to constantly reassure me that this was all for the right cause, my views began to change and I started feeling guilty. The destruction of the lab was a sad event, but maybe one full of karma. I spent a long time recovering, but even so I was surprised that the project had been cancelled when I heard about it after being released from intensive care. I concluded that what led to the cancellation was the destruction of the original Mew sample."

There was a silent pause as all those present took in Binks' words. Then began the questioning, the way to the hidden truth was to read between the lines. "All the data was kept in New Island along with the sample. Backups should have been made, though it was uncomfortable because of the constant renovations the Kanto area was undergoing. The data was more protected there, so it remained only there. Even so, such a precious sample... Something might have been left, if only a small hint of the sample. Why didn't I order the lab ruins to be explored in search of it? I had other business in Kanto, but that's not enough. What was I concentrating on so much that I didn't order the ruins to be explored?" 

No one had a definite answer to that question, but they were beginning to see what Giovanni meant by doubting what they knew. In an effort to add something, Archer looked up some information in the archives. "Team Rocket's business at the time immediately after the lab's destruction was focused on expanding to other regions that we were barely beginning to reach. Commerce with the Orange Islands increased significantly. Later, there was the development of a machine to capture exceptionally strong pokemon, though it was never successfully put to use."

"Why not?" Giovanni questioned.

"The technology and power was effective, but there was no target that required such machines to be caught. I believe the goal were the legendary birds, but that hunt never really took off." Archer paused looking at the screen of his laptop connected to a data port. His gaze traveled to the Rocket leader meeting his eyes. Giovanni wasn't one to leave things half done. 

"Wasn't there a failure in the power supply of that device?" Proton inquired. "I'm not sure if it's the one I'm thinking of, but didn't it blow up?"

"If it did, why wasn't it fixed?" Giovanni continued to inquire.

"Because it was experimental, being tested to see if it was worth it?" Ariana took a moment to go over her own words as well as everything else that was spoken so far. "We're just making up excuses and concluding what is logical to conclude, while contradicting ourselves in the process. In the end, it seems all our memories about certain things from that time are blurry. There was another project before the capturing device, some armor of sorts that I'm also having trouble remembering. Strangely, I remember everything else from that period as clearly as it is normal given the time that has passed."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about," Giovanni was glad that the executives were at least seeing his point.

"I don't see anything strange about that time," Petrel mused aloud. "I remember all of you being busy and hearing rumors about the Mewtwo project being a success. I was busy with business at the Orange Islands at the time and wasn't exactly in constant contact with headquarters. The rumors were false, a pity, I would have designed a grand costume for Mewtwo if it were real. I know you won't let me dress your pokemon, but I thought you'd make an exception for that one."

"Rumors?" The feeling of uneasiness increased in Giovanni, along with a sense of anticipation. "This was top secret, how could you have heard rumors?"

Petrel shrugged, "Proton told me, probably as a joke."

"No, I didn't, I never said anything like that," Proton defended. 

"The reason why the ruined laboratory wasn't explored, the purpose of the armor and the machine to catch powerful pokemon, the reason why those projects were dropped..." Giovanni could come up with explanations for them, but he felt as if he was only filling in the blanks as Ariana said. His mind came up with all sorts of logical explanations that didn't quite fit his determination. Why did he give up? "What destroyed the lab in the first place? Was it really a chain reaction caused by the power reactor? Why did we conclude that without a detailed investigation?" Giovanni wanted to find answers and he had gone into that conference room determined not to go out without them. However, there was a faster way to come up with those answers, a more precise way. "Meeting postponed," he finally announced. "Take some time to think about what was said here. Question everything; we'll talk again after I gather some facts from New Island." Giovanni left the conference room to assemble an investigation team.

The four executives and Binks sat at the table for a few moments longer. Proton took a big bite of his donut, "Giovanni's worrying me."

"I'm more worried about the fact that you still haven't learned not to talk with your mouth full," Ariana commented, receiving a roll of the eyes from Proton. "In all seriousness," she continued, "Giovanni's recent experience has really affected him, but he has a point. It's odd that there seems to be something that doesn't fit. I'll check the data and put some information together with what we have. If anything, we might discover some past misinformation, maybe even sabotage. It would be a bit late, but we could still learn from it."

"If you ask me, you all need a vacation," Petrel suggested. "Giovanni's having a stressful time. It happens now and then. Remember when he lost his temper and nearly killed Rune, which led to his heart problems? Remember when he did those training exercises in the mountains on a whim? It's just one of those times."

"Training exercises?" Proton tried to remember what Petrel was talking about.

Archer looked up some extra data in the system, "it was close to the time when the machine to capture powerful pokemon was declared a failure. We weren't training. We were following a vague clue that Moltres had been spotted near that mountain area."

"Zapdos," Ariana corrected.

"There were no legendaries, we were trying out the guns, training the rookies, you know," Proton insisted. "We were playing war, it was a training exercise." 

"I was at the Orange Islands so I didn't get to play general that time," Petrel frowned. "I would have come up with some amazing special edition uniforms for the occasion."

"We weren't playing generals, we were hunting legendaries," Ariana insisted.

"Actually, the system says nothing about Moltres, Zapdos or Articuno being spotted near that area. We always keep tabs on them to figure out the patterns of their migrations in hopes of capturing them, though so far there have been no real patterns. None the less, that data should be in the system," Archer massaged his temples, feeling a headache coming on with all the contradictions. 

"Let's just continue with our usual duties for now," Ariana suggested. "I'll take care of organizing the data we have in the archives and make sure it's ready for our next meeting."

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, at Cerulean City, Ash, Misty and her sisters were all rejoicing about the discovery of the antidote. Lando and Daisy were there as well, with Violet, Lily and Brock; Kenobi had gone to visit too. He had hidden Giovanni's identity from them before and lied to do so. It was something for which Violet became upset when he confessed after Giovanni's identity was revealed to Misty and thus would be difficult to keep from her sisters. After several apologies, Violet forgave Kenobi and they stayed together.

"To think the gym leader was the Rocket boss all along. This will be our secret to guard," Lando concluded, he knew he would be busy with business related to the production of the antidote. "I'm just glad an antidote was discovered, even if it won't be officially on the shelves for a few more days."

"But darling, the pokemon need it!" Daisy insisted.

"I know, beloved, yet it is outside of my control. Until the Pokemon League approves, we cannot distribute the antidote. We were only able to heal our pokemon right away because of our connections," Lando admitted.

Ash pouted in frustration hearing this, "I don't like bureaucracy," he declared, though he wouldn't let it ruin the relief that finally overcame him when he was given the antidote to protect his pokemon from possible future infections and to heal the pokemon that were infected. He offered to deliver the antidote to Cerulean City right away and flew out on Charizard soon after. 

The cure was a virus in itself that mutated the bad one into something good. It was called Pokerus, a virus that only pokemon could contract and made their bodies stronger. It boosted their immune system to a point where no known illnesses could even begin to affect them, save for poison and such conditions originating from another pokemon.

For most of Ash's journey, he focused on pokemon training and left his aura abilities to develop on their own without seeking training. They grew in time and sometimes manifested themselves. Ash could also call upon his abilities, somehow becoming more used to them by instinct with the passing of the years. His experience in that mysterious world where he evolved from the image of a Pikachu into Raichu were not without effect. Evolution aside, it was being exposed to that world which made him more aware of his own aura, thus more able to control it. He felt uneasiness in the air despite the situation looking as if it was steadily heading towards a significant improvement. He catalogued the odd feeling as stress from an exhausting ordeal and tried to remain positive. After things settled down, he would return to Viridian City and stay for a while to try to further get to know his father. They would battle, they would talk and things would work out somehow.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon.


	30. Part 30

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 100: Give me Possibilities

At the Cerulean City gym, the good health of the pokemon gradually restored the sense of hope and peace of the humans around them. Ash looked down at the pool from the diving board where Misty floated below, along with many of the pokemon who were fond of water. Her eyes were closed in relaxation, almost as if she could fall asleep on the water's surface, flowing gently on her back. She looked up, her eyes meeting his. "Come on in, the water's fine."

Ash grinned as if mentally adding 'so is the view,' before he jumped into the pool like a cannon ball with a big splash. Misty's peaceful floating was interrupted by Ash's dive, which started a playful battle of splashing each other between the couple. They kept playing until Ash's cell phone, which had been left at the edge of the pool, began to ring. Thinking that it might be his mother calling about something urgent, while hoping that it wasn't anything urgent, Ash went to answer the call. "I'll get you back, this retreat is only temporary."

"Swim away while you can," Misty teased.

The one calling Ash was not Delia, it was Gary. The young researcher had received a supply of antidote which was very welcomed, but also very suspicious. He couldn't hold his silence any longer and pretend he believed the excuses he kept hearing. He had to know the truth. "Ash, I need to talk to you in person." That way it would be easier to read Ash's expression and not so easy for him to escape.

"Is something wrong with the pokemon?" Ash asked in worry.

"No, it's not that," Gary reassured. "The pokemon are alright now, I received a sufficient supply of the antidote. None of them are in danger. There's just something I need to talk to you about," something that his grandfather seemed to be somehow aware of, but kept in stubborn silence. "It's about Team Rocket."

Ash fell silent before finally voicing as casually as he could, "what about them?"

"Come to Pallet and I'll tell you," was Gary's reply before ending the call. He knew that if Ash was hiding something, he would head for Pallet Town right away.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Viridian Rocket headquarters, Delia was looking for Giovanni. He had gone to a meeting with the executives earlier and disappeared afterwards. He mentioned he would be busy with work, but she wondered where he could have gone. Heading in the opposite direction down the hall, she saw Luke. "Delia, everything is like going so well now, you know?"

She returned his smile, sincerely relieved that the illness problem had been solved. "I'm very relieved, but it seems Giovanni is busy again, not that I'm surprised." Her Rocket cell phone beeped, signaling the arrival of a text message. Delia curiously glanced at it and there was a warmth in her eyes.

"Is it like from Giovanni?" Luke guessed.

"Yes," Delia confirmed, "as I thought, he'll be busy today, but at least he remembered to text me. It's good to know he thought of me." 

"He's like always busy, you know?" Luke agreed, "but he like loves you, we can like tell, you know?" We referred to the executives and long time elite Rockets who had known Giovanni for years.

The text message was simple, a reminder that Giovanni would see Delia that evening. At first she didn't read too deep into it, then suddenly every mental alarm in her system went off. He would see her when he returned from New Island.

xoxox xox xoxox

Giovanni had gone to a place he had not visited in many years, New Island. Pixel was managing the equipment in the large helicopter, consisting of various scanners that could create a digital image of the New Island ruins for easier navigation. Comet would go into the ruins to capture videos and explore, to hopefully find some clue of what was missing. The mission was expected to be difficult since they weren't sure what exactly they were looking for, but the suspicious sights began to appear right after landing.

"The sensors finished constructing the 3D map of the ruins. It looks like some areas will be impossible to reach without considerable excavation. This area here has a tunnel leading to it and it's pretty big, it requires minimal excavation so it might be a good place to start. Even so, the entire ruins are noticeably unstable." Pixel reported. "According to the data, this area has had seismic activity due to recently active undersea volcanoes. The pressure sensors should warn us of possible earthquakes, but only within a few seconds of them."

"No worries, I'll make sure not to get trapped down there," Comet checked that all his equipment was ready and that his earpiece was working, before exiting the helicopter. Pixel would remain there to serve as a guide with the maps and sensors. 

Comet, Pixel and Giovanni were the only ones there, with Giovanni having piloted the helicopter himself, focusing in arriving at the destination as soon as possible. He also didn't want many agents to distract him from bringing out whatever was in the back of his mind. He kept thinking of New Island, but he didn't know why. It was as if his subconscious knew something that was fighting to appear at the surface of his thoughts.

The Rocket leader, who had exited the helicopter immediately after landing, returned and picked up some equipment. "The landscape doesn't match. The only thing left of the data of this lab are the blueprints for the building. Use that with the simulator and see if you can get a match with the landscape. Run the program both ways. If the lab was destroyed and something else was built here, I want to know what it was." 

"Yes, sir!" Pixel began with her assigned task. With the advances of technology, simulations could be run to predict the state in which a structure would be left when exposed to a certain intensity of damage. It was mostly used to calculate how reinforced a structure needed to be with the expected conditions it would have to withstand. Though it was mostly used by architects, it was also useful to know how much of a mess a certain type of attack would leave behind, among other uses. 

With the data collected by the sensors, the program would compare the actual ruins to how the ruins of the lab should look like. It would also use the data from the ruins to determine how the structure looked like before it was destroyed. Archeologists of all regions had rejoiced at the commercial release of the program. That particular function was rarely used in Team Rocket. The portable sensor mechanisms were released upon their arrival to New Island. They were small and had varied appearances. Some looked like miniature cylinders with helicopter-like propellers and others looked like mechanical Surskit. The strongest sensors were in the atmosphere under the command of Sapphire, a PorygonZ that resided in a powerful satellite. Sapphire was in communication with Diamond, the PorygonZ at the top of the command chain of the Rocket digital systems.

While Pixel ran the programs and Comet headed below ground, Giovanni stood outside the helicopter, contemplating the ruins of New Island for a moment longer. A strange black structure, thinner near the end, lay in shambles as if a tower had stood there before, but there shouldn't have been a tower there. Debris of violet propeller-like blades similar to pieces of a windmill lay scattered about, which didn't belong there either. After Comet disappeared into the darkness of a cramped passage to the ruins below, Giovanni went his own way underground without an earpiece. He wanted to focus by himself and see what he could uncover.

xoxox xox xoxox

To say the area Comet was exploring was cramped, dusty and dark would be an understatement. There was hardly enough room to move and the air was thin, though just enough to breathe without needing an oxygen mask. "Are you getting the video feed, Pix?"

"In high definition," Pixel's voice replied from Comet's earpiece. "The architecture programs are loading up possibilities; so far we have no matches. It looks like the boss was right. Something else was probably built here in place of the lab. I'll have the program convert the possibilities into the most likely aspect. So far it looks like some kind of tower with windmill-like propellers."

"Weird," Comet wondered why something as attention grabbing as a tower would be built in a place that as far as he knew was supposed to be secretive. It was true that ships seldom went close to that area anyway, but Giovanni seemed to have more of a liking towards hidden underground laboratories for his works of secrecy. 

"That's what the simulation shows," Pixel asserted. "It's also why we're here, to find things that don't seem to make sense," it was Giovanni's order for them to watch out for such things. 

Comet spotted some strange transparent pipes tinted in green and orange. They were crushed, as was everything else in the underground ruins. A control panel was near by, obviously it was completely incapable of functioning. Comet removed one of the side covers of the device and pointed his flashlight at the mass of broken wires inside. 

"That looks promising," Pixel commented, "I doubt the main drive is intact, but maybe we could get something out of it."

"I'll try to get it out without damaging it more," Comet replied, pushing wires and connectors aside.

"There it is," Pixel saw what they were looking for on the screen, from the small camera attached to Comet's flashlight. "That metal box should contain the hard drive. Did you remember to bring a screwdriver?"

"You bet," Comet looked for the proper tool on the utility belt he had brought along. "This belt has more gadgets in it than Batman's. The only thing it doesn't have is a Zubat, Golbat and Crobat trio of sidekicks." Just as he reached for the screwdriver, Comet noticed a pokeball that was not his and looked into the semi-transparent top at the reduced pokemon inside, it was a Crobat. "Actually, it does come with a Crobat," he put it back on the belt since he didn't need any assistance from it at the moment. He had to wonder how many Rockets had used that Crobat in missions. Its pokeball seemed to be handed out to whoever was using the rest of the equipment on the set.

The exploration of the New Island ruins continued in a similar way, until Comet had gathered sufficient data from that area and headed to the surface to deliver the recovered hard drive along with another interesting thing he found. The item appeared to be similar to a pokeball, made of metal painted black, its color chipped and scratched in time. It was broken in two pieces that fit together over each other, both cracked. One piece was pure black and the other had three gray lines on top. Where the pokeball's button should be, there was a mechanism similar to it, shaped as a yellow eye with a red pupil.

xoxox xox xoxox

When Comet returned to the helicopter, Pixel had a peculiar display on the screen. It was the result of the programs that analyzed the ruins. It was only an approximation of the structure's appearance, but no matter how anyone looked at it, it was definitely different from the blueprints of what should have been there. A tower had supposedly stood at the island at some point, with a windmill at its peak and a few smaller similar towers surrounding the main structure. The underground deeper levels of the laboratory had become mostly flooded passages with the rise of the tides over time, but had been spacious in the past.

"I got a call from Ariana," Giovanni had instructed Pixel on the way, to forward the processed data to headquarters. "She was doing her own investigation and was intrigued by our findings. She mentioned that she would call for another meeting with the executives, so I've been forwarding the data to them. I didn't hear the full story, but apparently there are some strange contradictions that no one can make sense out of."

Three of the executives had been gathered in a conference room, Archer, Ariana and Proton were there trying to reconcile their contradicting theories, memories and evidence. It was as if they couldn't even trust what they remembered and if they thought too hard, things got blurry. It was something that they unconsciously ignored in the back of their minds until it was brought to their attention. Petrel was missing from the conference and claimed to be attending some important business with Delia and Luke when he was called.

"It looks like there really is some kind of hidden secret here. It all seems so suspicious," Comet voiced. "Do you think someone remodeled and used the facilities in the past before they were destroyed again?"

"Looks like it," Pixel mused, "the question is, how did they manage to get away with it? What were they trying to accomplish?" Another theory emerged, "do you think that it was related to Neo Rocket, a group of traitors covering for each other? Did they even exist back then?"

"It seems a bit early for Neo Rocket to have existed, but I wouldn't set aside any possibility right now," Comet looked at the image of the tower on the screen. It looked like a 3D model for the beta version of a video game. "Is the boss still walking around the island?"

"Yes, I've been buried to my neck in data processing and he didn't want any interruptions anyway." Pixel glanced at the time display on the bottom right of the main screen in the back of the large helicopter. The flying machine had two blades to be able to gain altitude. "He's been gone for a long time, maybe you should check on him from afar while I start working on squeezing some data out of that hard drive."

"I'll make sure he doesn't see me, I wouldn't want to break the boss' concentration when he's so focused on something." Comet left, making his way through the surface of the ruins as quietly as possible. He would go back to the helicopter, grab a snack from the supplies and get ready to explore the areas of the ruins that needed more excavation to get through.

In the mean time, Pixel continued gathering clues, which she would forward to the executives. "Ready Prism?" She dismantled the hard drive's box carefully, as her PorygonZ appeared on the screen with an affirmative answer. "This might be tricky." Pixel placed the disk part of the drive into a scanner. It was scratched and cracked, but hopefully some data could be extracted from it, even if they weren't complete files.

xoxox xox xoxox

After some time passed, Comet returned to the helicopter, where Pixel was, with no news of Giovanni. "I searched all over the island's surface and I couldn't find the boss anywhere. He might have gone underground by himself."

"That's bad, when you came back to get the digging equipment, I was going to tell you not to go down there for a while," Pixel warned in alarm. "The sensors detected an increase in pressure. The undersea volcanoes are active again. The effects will be minimal in the sea, but there can be earthquakes and that could cause a cave in at the ruins." 

"He didn't even take an earpiece along," Comet recalled.

"I'll try calling his cell phone," Pixel attempted to do so, but the result was a sound originating from a compartment at the cockpit which contained Giovanni's cell phone. "One thing is trying to disconnect himself so he can focus better, but this is not a good time to do that. The boss can take care of himself, yet somehow, I feel as if we should have kept a better eye on him." She checked the sensor's volcanic pressure reading again. "The pressure is increasing; at this rate it's almost certain there will be an earthquake soon. If I change the scanners settings I might be able to track the boss' heat signature, but the undersea volcanoes are giving me a lot of interference."

"I'll go have a quick look around," Comet decided, "if you get the sensors to work and find him, you can guide me there."

"I'm working on it," Pixel agreed, "be careful down there."

"I will," just as Comet was heading out of the large helicopter again, another helicopter landed nearby. 

The newly arrived flying vessel was smaller than the first, possessing only one blade. It was clearly made for quick transportation for a few passengers rather than to carry heavy equipment. Delia, Luke and Petrel exited the smaller helicopter and quickly made their way to the larger one. "Comet, is Giovanni here?" Delia asked.

"Here as in on the island, yes," Comet replied.

"Where is he?" Delia looked towards the large helicopter, theorizing that Giovanni was inside.

"Somewhere on the island, in fact, I was just on my way to get him," Comet grinned as if trying to lighten the atmosphere before the discovery of news that those present didn't want to hear.

"Dude, is he like down at the ruins, or like something?" Luke correctly guessed, to which Comet nodded just as there was a light earthquake.

"Did you feel that? This is no time to be under a pile of unstable ruins!" Delia worried. "Where's the radio? I have to tell Giovanni to get out of there. I'll tell him about the ruins if it'll keep him out of danger."

"Wait a minute, you know about the strange mystery we're trying to solve?" Petrel dramatized. He didn't expect Delia to be so well informed when she literally ran into him at the hall while Luke hurried after her due to her running off so suddenly. He wasn't there during the time when the executives lost their memories as they directed squadrons of Rocket agents to capture the clone pokemon, providing background support to Giovanni's operation. Instead, he was caught up with plenty of work at the Orange Islands. "I'm not going to miss out on things this time; I want to go underground too!"

"No one should be underground right now!" Delia firmly insisted, while Comet attempted to sneak away. "Stop right there young man! Giovanni doesn't have a means of communication on him, does he?" It would explained why she had not seen or heard anyone making an effort to call him so far and instead Comet was sneaking off to get him. "I'll have to go get him."

"Maybe I should go get him," Comet offered.

"I want to come too!" Petrel pouted, feeling left out.

"We could like all go, you know?" Luke suggested unsure.

"I don't want anyone to be in any unnecessary danger," Delia argued.

"It's coming!" Announced Pixel's voice from inside the large helicopter. Not even five seconds later, an earthquake, much more noticeable than the last, was felt. The shaking didn't last long, but it was strong. The ruins shifted and some of the debris on the surface collapse on itself, blocking the tunnels to the areas below, where the damage was probably far worse.

"Giovanni!" Delia ran towards the center of the island, where a large pile of ruined material was, as the shaking stopped. She looked around it for a way in, but found only a tiny tunnel, far too small for a human to fit in. Then the ground shook again, it was a gentle movement, but it was almost constant.

"What's going on?" Petrel shouted, as if upset that the ground was shaking without Team Rocket's permission, at such an inconvenient time for them. He rushed to the large helicopter in search of an explanation, "who said there could be an earthquake now?"

Pixel adjusted the settings of the programs on screen, "one of the undersea volcanoes is erupting. If it doesn't stop, it might trigger the others to erupt too."

Comet received the update via his earpiece and ran to shore. "I'm not sure how much of a difference this will make, but try to cool off that volcano Shenron, use blizzard!" He released his Gyarados into the sea. The pokemon immediately noticed the water's hot temperature. It was uncomfortable, but not bad enough to burn. "Come back if it gets too hot." 

Shenron swam deep under the sea, approaching the affected area as much as possible. The water was black, the thick smoke refused to dissolve even in the liquid. The powerful Gyarados released a blizzard with all his strength, trying to cool the area and calm the volcanoes. 

As Comet stood at the shore watching the water and the light smoke rising from it, a Charizard landed near by with an unexpected arrival. "Ash?" 

"What's going on?" Ash asked as he jumped off Charizard and recalled him into his pokeball, thanking him for the ride.

"Right now I'm trying to cool off some undersea volcanoes," Comet explained, "Shenron is using blizzard to cool the water."

"I'll help, go Glalie!" It was one of the pokemon Ash had switched into his team from a PC at Cerulean City. "Ice beam!" The pokemon promptly froze Ash in a block of ice. The ice twitched until it broke, to release a shivering Ash. "Not on me, on the volcanoes under water!" After being given a specific target, the mischievous Glalie dove into the water to help cool off the volcanoes.

Delia and Luke had joined Pixel in the large helicopter where the equipment was. As of yet they were unaware of Ash's arrival at the island. "We have to dig him out!" Delia worried.

"It might be dangerous to dig before things stabilize, it could cause another cave in and make things worse," Pixel warned.

"So like what can we like do?" Luke inquired with urgency.

Before anything else could be said, a loud noise was heard from outside. Giovanni emerged from the ruins with three of his main team of pokemon. Persian had stayed at the Viridian headquarters for the time being. Rhyperior, Golem and Machamp opened the way for the Rocket boss to escape the ruins unharmed. He was received on the surface by Delia, who hugged him tightly in relief. "Let's go home," though she said that, Delia herself wasn't sure where home was to her anymore. Was it her beloved town of Pallet? The Viridian gym, or Giovanni's personal residence at the edge of Kanto near Victory Road? "I'll tell you about the ruins, just be careful in the future and don't do anything rash or..."

Giovanni looked at Delia with puzzlement; he was close to uncovering the secret that was bothering him, the memories that were buried deep inside. He saw something like a dream, an image of an unknown pokemon that he felt he should know. The being had white and purple fur, but the details were blurry. It was akin to looking at a painting that had been submerged in water before the paint was dry. "You know about this?" 

Delia nodded, "I thought there were certain things best left forgotten. This is something I haven't really thought about for a long time. I should have realized it before, when you told me about your experience in that mysterious world and what it made you begin to remember. I should have known it was this."

Still shocked by the revelation and the certainty that there really was something going on, Giovanni recalled his pokemon and went to the large helicopter with Delia. The shaking had stopped, as detected by the sensors. Ash and Comet called back their pokemon, thanking them for their help in suppressing the undersea volcanic activities, at least temporarily. They returned to the large helicopter and it was then that Ash saw that his parents were there and they saw him.

Simultaneously, the broken pieces of files that the system was analyzing were finally processed. The program popped up to the surface of the screen above the other applications. What was contained in the recovered hard drive, among other things, were video files taken years ago. The full files could not be restored from the damaged storage device, but a few scenes could be saved. The screen was flooded with a collection of screen shots of different people that were at present over a decade older than in the images. A boy with black hair wearing red, a slightly older boy with brown hair wearing blue, a girl with brown hair and a pokeball necklace.

There were also pictures of many different pokemon, but the one thing that caught everyone's attention were the pictures of a boy who looked a lot like Ash. He was in the company of two others, identifiable as Misty and Brock. Giovanni looked at the pictures in puzzlement, "those pictures."

"They were... in a hard drive from the ruins," Pixel quietly replied, feeling the tension building up in the air. 

After looking at the pictures for a moment longer, Giovanni looked at Delia, who seemed worried. Then he looked at Ash, "why are your pictures here? What was here? What do you know about..." The blurry image of the white and purple pokemon resurfaced in his mind, becoming slightly clearer. "What do you know about Mewtwo?"

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Diamond 101: Give me Harmony

At New Island, Giovanni, Delia, Petrel, Luke, Comet and Pixel stood in silent suspense as they waited for Ash to answer Giovanni's question. A hard drive was found in the ruins of New Island in bad conditions. However, a relatively small amount of data could be retrieved from it. The processed files revealed screen shots of Ash from an incomplete video file taken over ten years ago. It was a very suspicious finding, which the Team Rocket leader was set on unraveling.

Ash stared at the images on the screen. He guessed that the images must have been recorded by Mewtwo, maybe before he made the choice to invite him to New Island. He had no idea such files existed and it was even more shocking that they would be found after so many years. The past was something that could never truly be left behind and had to be faced. Ash's memories had been unlocked faster after his trip to that other world, thanks to his aura abilities. He could remember everything from New Island with the clarity that the events would have if his memories had not been locked.

Ash tried to say something, but found himself unable to find the words. He thought that after the problems with the virus were solved, things would be calm. He would get to know his father as someone more than just the leader of Team Rocket. He would be optimistic and look at the positive side of each situation, the side his mother noticed. He didn't want a conflict to arise, he didn't want to be placed against his father, he didn't want to think of Giovanni in that light. He wanted to see him as the gym leader, as a skilled trainer, not as the man who used pokemon for power.

The large screen displaying the images suddenly went black. Taken by surprise, Pixel tried to make the computer system respond, but the keyboard was dead. "What's happening? Prism, are you okay?"

The words 'intruder alert' flashed red on the screen and the machine screeched as the main CPU began to overheat.

"Prism, what's happening, respond! Sapphire, come in Sapphire," Pixel's voice was cut off by the sound of the computer short circuiting. The electric shockwave pushed those gathered there away, towards the front of the spacious helicopter. An unconscious PorygonZ, Prism, was thrown out of the computer and materialized outside of the cyber space. 

When the unexpected technological problems quieted, the computer system was surrounded by a stream of smoke, completely fried beyond functioning. All the portable sensors that had been released outside were deactivated and unresponsive. "The data!" Giovanni knew that Ash had more answers than what he could obtain from the scraps found at the New Island ruins, but he still wanted that data to have another perspective to look at.

"I was transmitting it to headquarters, it should have been saved there," Pixel made a quick call on her cell phone directed at Ariana, who wondered why the stream of data had suddenly become disconnected. At least she could confirm that the data which had been recovered thus far was safely delivered to the Viridian headquarters databases. The strange incident that caused the malfunction and the apparent invasion of an unknown hacker was being investigated.

"Looks like there's even more things than we thought going on," Petrel commented on the unexpected occurrence. 

"Let the executives take care of this mystery, I have another mystery to solve," Giovanni decided. "You can all return on this helicopter. Even if the computer server is clearly out of order, it's separate from the flight controls, so this won't be a problem for transportation. Ash, Delia and I will return on the smaller helicopter." It was a final choice that left no room for argument. The three of them exited the large helicopter and headed towards the small one. Both flying machines were painted black; the big one had a red R on its side, while the smaller one had a green leaf, the symbol of the Earth badge of Viridian.

xoxox xox xoxox

Though Giovanni had begun to ask his questions in the air, Delia insisted that they should talk calmly when they landed. Even if he was impatient to know, Giovanni took Delia's advice, given that he was currently piloting the helicopter. Besides, Ash didn't look like he could say anything at the moment even if he tried. 

The helicopter landed not at the Viridian gym, but instead at Giovanni's mansion near Victory Road. The trip went by in silence, save for a small sound from Ash's cell phone when he received a text message from Gary pressuring him to hurry to Pallet Town. Ash replied with a simple 'not now' text message that conveyed a world of emotion. He knew that somehow, Gary would understand that he had a lot to deal with and he would be there as soon as he could.

When Rex received the three arrivals to the mansion he couldn't help it but to wonder if someone had died, since their expressions seemed so solemn. There was also an underlying frustration in Giovanni's eyes, worry in Delia and an intense look in Ash's eyes that went from sad, to frightened to completely lost, depending on which thought currently ran through his head.

As they made their way into the mansion to find a quiet place to sit and talk, they didn't even hear Rex mentioning that the Viridian mayor had stopped by and was still at the mansion. Rune was about to leave when he found Giovanni, Delia and Ash on his way out. "You're back! I was just talking to your staff about a party. We could have it at the gym. It will be a celebration of the antidote and the health and peace that it will bring, an oath to prosperity and an excellent campaign closing! I know Kenobi is the official new candidate, but you know I can't seem to stay away from these things. Between your home staff and mine, all the food can be easily prepared. Some delicious custom made recipes would really stand out. I'm sure we can also find a way to integrate a forest theme to it, what do you think? It will be grand!"

"Rune," Giovanni growled with unparalleled fury. For a moment, mayor Antilles thought the Rocket boss would hit him again and that time he wouldn't live to tell the tale. Thankfully, no physical violence occurred, as Giovanni finished with his usual, "shut up!"

"Yes, sir!" Fearing for his life, mayor Antilles ran out in a panic. He concluded that this was not a good day to talk to Giovanni about parties.

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Meanwhile, at the Viridian Rocket headquarters, the unexpected technological difficulties experienced at New Island were interpreted. Archer, Ariana and Proton were joined by Petrel at a conference room. The agents who were present at the time of the event on New Island were there as well, which included Luke, Comet and Pixel.

"It has been determined that what happened to the equipment on New Island was no accident, nor was it directly caused by an enemy. It was our own Sapphire who, with the help of Diamond, rendered the equipment useless," Archer seriously explained. Sapphire was the satellite inhabiting PorygonZ in charge of the sensors and espionage equipment, while Diamond was on top of the digital command chain and supported the security of each individual PorygonZ in the digital domain of Team Rocket. "The PorygonZ acted in such a way due to an intruder trying to take control of Sapphire. The intruder was traced back to New Island, to the Team Rocket equipment. Agent Pixel, what do you have to say about this?"

"The intruder was obviously using some kind of cover up, it wasn't me," Pixel was annoyed not to have noticed such a thing.

"The hacking did indeed have its origin elsewhere," Ariana confirmed. "However, we have no solid proof of this or a way to pin point where it started. The only reason we know this is because, given the speed at which you were sending us processed data, you must have been pushing the equipment's CPU to its limits, running various instances of the architectural simulation programs in high precision mode. For the data to arrive here at HQ at such a rate, it is the only explanation. Taking that into consideration, you would not have enough system resources left to do the hacking. Make sure such things don't slip by in the future."

"Yes, ma'am..." Pixel's mind was elsewhere, thinking of what could have happened and why neither the system's security, nor Prism, nor she, noticed it.

"Luke, it's time for you to be integrated to your new duties," Proton had a hint of annoyance in his voice, though it was directed at the situation rather than Luke. "While you're training pokemon and playing war general with an army of rookies, I'll be buried in this investigation. You're probably too nice to really mess with the rookies, what a waste," Proton made an exaggerated annoyed face, which far from proving a point, only served to amuse all those present.

"That's like totally awesome, man!" Luke didn't even try to feel sorry for Proton and his participation in a long and arduous investigation. He was too focused on looking forward to his new assignments.

"That's all for now, you may return to your duties," Archer announced, which prompted Luke, Comet and Pixel to leave the conference room.

After they were gone, Petrel observed Archer's pensive state and inquired, "what is it?"

"That girl is friends with Delia. If it turns out she's a traitor, it will make things difficult. She is also close to Comet, who is among our best agents. He's Luke's son and Luke just regained Giovanni's trust after pursuing that goal for a long time," Archer voiced seriously, his face stern with concern in his eyes. "I believe in Luke's loyalty and his son has been raised on the principal of loyalty to Team Rocket. However, Pixel is an outsider, recruited from an entirely different environment, an environment from which one would not guess a Rocket agent would come."

Following her husband's train of thought, Ariana continued, "Comet is young and has the same carefree attitude of his father. Though he was raised to be a loyal Rocket, I wonder if his optimism will be his betrayal. Would he take her side if she's a traitor, believing things will somehow work out and she'll change into a loyal Rocket? They are a couple after all. If Comet joins her, then what will Luke do? He's loyal to Giovanni, but is clearly very attached to his son."

"Aren't we going too far?" Petrel voiced. "Pixel could be innocent; the set up might have really just slipped by. With the earthquakes, finding those files at the ruins and worrying about Giovanni being trapped underground, it was a pretty distracting atmosphere. She probably didn't notice she was being used as a cover up. We at least know that she wasn't the one doing the hacking on Sapphire's satellite, right? Besides, who would be stupid enough to do something traitorous when Giovanni is so close by? One would think a computer geek is smarter than that."

"So it would seem," Archer accepted the point. "There are too many questions related to this incident. The PorygonZ satellite project is a key step towards world domination, one that must be firmly established and tested beyond a doubt. There might be someone out to ruin everything and we need to make sure that doesn't happen. To top it all up, there's also the matter concerning New Island, which is Giovanni's main focus right now."

"So it's up to us to hunt down the culprit for the Sapphire incident and defend the satellites. At least we know Sapphire and Diamond's security is working, even if the programs haven't been fully integrated. Such an important step..." Proton's face turned serious. "We'll have to be extra careful. Whoever gets in our way will regret it. Giovanni made it pretty clear, he's got his own battle, this is our fight."

xoxox xox xoxox

In one of the top security underground laboratories, Binks was working on a few experiments. He had become far more active, focused and capable since Aayla returned to headquarters. In a sea of shades of gray, the fluorescent colored liquids in the small glass vials stood out. Binks added green and blue liquids from glass vials into a clear beaker and set it aside for the moment, allowing the colors to mix oddly and become a metallic silvery substance. He looked over at the lab's corner where Aayla was curled up sleeping. He had tried to find a more comfortable place for her to rest, but she ignored him and stayed there. "You're grieving, aren't you? You don't fully remember, but somehow you know." Binks looked at her sadly and let out a hollow breath. "At least Secura can rest in peace and her curse didn't overtake the world. We can have some time of peace now."

Aayla had in truth been awake and listening. Her ears moved slightly as she looked at Binks and shook her head. "Do not assume what you do not know and doubt what you do." For the first time Aayla spoke the human language, proving that she did still have the ability to do so, even if she had been out of practice. "There are those who are created by nature and those who originated as a consequence of humans. Be it by consequence or nature, they exist within the mysteries of life. However, those who were made by the hands of humans with a purpose and not as a consequence or natural phenomena are different, for now. They will have to join us, they will have to live with us, or else they will not live at all, merely existing."

Binks felt as if he was frozen. He didn't understand what Aayla was talking about, but it sounded both significant and cryptic. "What does that mean?" Binks managed to push out the words.

"Time will tell, it is not something that science can heal. To grant life, that is something that we may ask for, it is something that we may attempt to trigger, but in the end, the choice of granting such a wish belongs to another." Aayla once again closed her eyes and rested her head on her paws. "I am only here to see how the unfinished business will end," she muttered quietly before drifting off into a heavy slumber.

"Please explain!" No matter how much Binks urgently insisted, Aayla did not speak of her strange interpretation any more. However, it was a confirmed fact that Akira had indeed passed away. Perhaps her words were a reference to the existence of an immortal soul, or maybe they weren't directed at Secura at all. What if she was denying his assessment that a time of peace would come? Binks tried to turn his attention to the experiments again, but found himself overwhelmed with worry and confusion. His hands trembled as he tried to set the vial he picked up back on its holder, but his reflexes were terribly clumsy. "I don't want to lose sight of reality... I don't want this..." He finally managed to place the vial where it belonged and stumbled away from the table. 

His loyal Raticate was by his side as usual, looking up at him with worry. Binks picked her up and held her in his trembling arms. He approached the resting Aayla and sat down on the floor next to her to wait for the inexplicable shadows that his mind conjured to leave the room and let him be. In the end, though he had improved, he had no hope for a real cure, no hope for medication to free him completely. Frightened beyond reason, despite knowing there was nothing to be afraid of, he waited for the worst to pass. He looked at Aayla and his sadness surpassed fear. "Why must I do what you say, even if it hurts me so much to think it will hurt you? I don't want you to carry this pain."

With the removal of so many blood cells to conjure the main ingredient of the antidote that brought forth Pokerus, Aayla was left weak. It was at her insistence that her blood was taken, as she did not possess the energy to heal all the affected pokemon faster than the terrible epidemic could spread. However, mass-producing the antidote with just a tiny sample of her blood cells, a few drops diluted in a bottle of chemicals, was enough to end the epidemic. As her healing blood was removed, when her body recovered, the essence of Pokerus would weaken and more blood cells would be required for the next batch of antidote to be made. The antidote was not infinite, but Pokerus could spread from one pokemon to another after the antidote was administrated, hence a relatively small amount of antidote could make a big difference by its side effects of spreading its healing.

Aayla's power would still be weakened as a consequence of the lack of Pokerus concentration in her system, which her body had become accustomed and even dependant to. She could no longer teleport and the illusions that she created were easier to break. Her movements, though still relatively agile, were also not as fast as they were before. She slept more often, surrendering to an exhaustion that seemed to remain with her even after hours of sleep. It was her choice none the less to spread the cure as quickly as possible; it was her personal mission which she convinced Binks to help her with in taking the sample from her.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the mansion, Delia, Ash and Giovanni were in one of the many sitting rooms. This particular one had a circular couch as the centerpiece with a round gold plated table in the middle. The area where the black leather circle opened to allow people to sit within it, was adorned with a pair of statues on either side, both also covered in gold. The statues were detailed, though their similarities to the pokemon they represented, Lugia and Ho-oh, were left in theory in many ways. The carpet was a neutral gray, which made the gold stand out further.

Triangle shaped topazes lined with golden frames formed a majestic chandelier overhead. All in all, the room seemed far too fancy for a simple place to talk. The round table could be used to host a fancy dinner and most other activities seemed out of place there. However, the three current occupants of the room had other things to think about. Giovanni faced Delia and Ash, which made the atmosphere of an interrogation invade the room even before the first words were spoken.

"Let him go..." Ash whispered so softly that his voiced seemed to be lost into nothingness. "Please, just let him go."

"You do know where Mewtwo is," with every passing moment, Giovanni felt as if his memories became clearer. He saw himself in control of Mewtwo, then fighting to recapture him. 

"Not exactly," Ash truthfully replied. He didn't know, and wouldn't say even if he did, what Mewtwo's exact location was, but he had an idea. 

Seeing that Ash had falling into a long silence, face downcast, Giovanni addressed Delia. "What do you know about Mewtwo?"

"You used him to battle, but that wasn't the whole of your plan, it couldn't have been." Delia spoke softly, trying to keep her voice even and calm. "He escaped and you tracked him down. You tried to catch him by force. You should just let him go, he's a living being!"

"Mom..." Ash's soft whisper interrupted as Delia's voice had become upset. "Let me... You should... I really think you should stay here. You've done a lot of good, more than you might realize, I can feel it. Please stay here. I'll be the one to go."

Delia's eyes widened as she perceived the hidden meaning of her son's words. Ash knew that this argument would run deep; he knew that he might end up having to separate from his father for some time. He was asking her to stay by Giovanni's side. He could feel her influence on him, even if it was a slow and gentle process that would take a life time to fully take effect. Even so, it was significant and it was something only she could do. "I can't, I..." Delia closed her eyes and breathed, her heart was already racing. She had always chosen Giovanni, she chose him over herself, over justice and over her own family with the exception of her son. Now her son was asking her to stand by his father's side even if he couldn't.

"Please," Ash insisted, lifting his gaze for the first time since his arrival, to meet his mother's eyes. "This is what's best, so please." Pikachu remained quiet by Ash's side the whole time.

With tears starting to form in her eyes, Delia accepted Ash's request. "I trust you."

"Thank you," Ash stood and looked at his father in all seriousness. "I know what will happen if I tell you about Mewtwo and you know I'll try to stop you if you pursue him. We'll decide in a battle. Show me your full power, if I can't win, then I'll tell you everything I know about Mewtwo."

From that point on, everything became a blur to Delia. She followed them outside to witness their battle, but was sent back. It wouldn't be safe to get too close. She would watch from the window while they battled behind the mansion. The structure was equipped with a state of the art security system to protect it from pokemon attacks. The system recently underwent considerable upgrades. As she watched from the window, she recognized the pain in her heart. It was the pain that came when people dear to her stood against each other. She had felt it before, but this time it was more intense than ever. It reminded her of another occasion when she also felt as if she was caught in the middle and at the same time wasn't there at all.

xoxox xox xoxox

Years earlier, when Giovanni had just recently become the gym leader... At the police station, Jenny let out a defeated breath as she gathered her things. It was time for her to retire though she was still of age to keep working. She felt as if she had done enough, let her cousins do the rest until it was time for her daughter and nieces to step forward and keep up the family tradition of working towards upholding law and order. She might wear a law enforcement uniform again, but only as a privately hired guard, since she was still too young to retire completely.

She didn't feel right about handing in her badge, but she didn't feel wrong about it either. She knew the truth about the new Viridian gym leader, Giovanni. After losing a battle to him, her own battles felt insignificant by comparison. She hoped that the facet of his persona who believed in his pokemon would overpower the side of him that was too ambitious. At the time, from her perspective, it looked as if he was just barely balanced. 

Jenny heard some quiet but firm footsteps approaching and instinctively looked up in mild curiosity. She didn't expect to see anyone procuring her, let alone him. "Is it true?" A man noticeably older than Jenny, with graying brown hair inquired. "Is it true that you're leaving us?"

"Superintendent..." she breathed, "yes, I'm afraid so. It seems my heart just isn't in it lately."

"Our battle is far from over," the police superintendent spoke sternly, his voice a mix of disappointment and grief. 

"I feel as if I'm only a bystander," Jenny admitted. "If that's what I am, then I might as well stand back and watch."

"I'm going to expose him," the superintendent's voice was determined and unbreakable. "Everyone is opposed to the idea; they speak of the consequences of picking a fight. Some even see Team Rocket in a positive light because they defeated the other gangs that used to plague Kanto. That was something that the police force couldn't do. I was overwhelmed just trying to clean the force of double agents and small gangs. They even did that for me. During their operation the corrupt officers stepped into the war and were ultimately processed thanks to their involvement against Team Rocket. They were ironically finally doing their job in a sense when they were at last exposed and arrested."

"Then maybe Kanto really is better off in his hands," Jenny quietly spoke.

"Never!" The superintendent slammed his fist into the desk with a loud noise that made all eyes in the station land on him. He cleared his throat as if telling everyone to mind their own business. The officers continued working, pretending they were unaware of the superintendent's conversation. "If we leave justice in the hands of someone who is more so a villain than a vigilante we will regret it."

"So you'd leave it up to a vigilante then?" Jenny challenged, knowing all too well what the answer would be. 

"Absolutely not," the superintendent frowned sternly. 

Jenny sighed, she was younger than the superintendent and thus in theory less experienced, but it looked to her that he was throwing a tantrum because someone did his job more effectively than him. The superintendent was usually an understanding and kind person, albeit today he was clearly frustrated. He was an honorable man who would do anything for justice, to defend the innocent and protect the good. None the less, he was only human, a human who commanded little power despite his position. 

The superintendent was expected to clean out the corruption from the police and rid Kanto of its dangerous era of gangs. The era had seemingly ended, though by someone else's hand and at a price that would truly be revealed in the future. "It's time to reclaim Kanto."

Jenny set the box she was holding with her belongings back on the desk. "Maybe I should stay for a while longer, if you don't mind."

"All honest officers are welcomed and appreciated," the superintendent excused himself with those words, leaving Jenny to reorganize her desk.

Jenny still didn't feel as if her authority could do much, but she wanted to see what was to come up close and maybe act if the opportunity came. She stood not for the law or the police; she would stand for what she thought was best for Kanto, regardless of what that entailed. 

"Jenny, is it true you're leaving?" A male officer, slightly younger than her, though certainly not a rookie, inquired.

Jenny smiled as if the thought of quitting had never crossed her mind. She tugged away the envelope with her resignation letter in her pocket. "Of course not, I'm just cleaning my desk." 

As her coworker left, she noticed that a name plate had been placed on the desk that used to belong to the chief of the station. The chief had been put into trial after conspiring with some of the gangs which Team Rocket later disbanded. At least the police force could start anew; thinking about that, Jenny became a little more optimistic. She read over the name plate that sat on the chief's desk, it looked like the superintendent would act as the Viridian police chief himself. 

Then a thought occurred to Jenny, the superintendent had been very busy with the internal affairs of the police, it was only natural that he had no time to keep up with the news. He only knew the basics about what had happened, he only knew about Giovanni. He had not heard about the lady that stood by his side. Jenny bit her lip and shook her head. She finished organizing her desk and sat down to go over some reports. Before immersing herself completely in the written works, she glanced at the name plate on the chief's desk one last time, but chose to remain silent.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 102: Give me Fortitude

Kanto was beginning to feel the change of most of its gangs being put behind bars. It was a chance for prosperity and growth in many ways. Viridian City had a new gym leader and a new mayor. The citizens were quite pleased, as both men appeared to be capable and dedicated. Naturally, the mayor would often socialize with the gym leader, as he felt it was his duty despite thinking the gym leader was a little scary. That socializing would lead to an alliance, which would pull another important figure to Team Rocket's side. All in all, things were looking up.

The panorama at the police station was quite different. The superintendent was stressed and very behind in his work. He had settled into his desk and finished most of his paper work. The documents were mostly about the trials that the officers affiliated with gangs would have to go through after being discovered. Team Rocket had been a relatively small gang with no connections to the police. In theory, it was due to Madame's interference. Apparently, she always made things backfire for her son when he tried to establish convenient connections with the police. It was perhaps her own way to push him into doing things on his own without assistance from double agents in the authorities and thus become stronger by his own skill, but most simply assumed she hated him.

Letting out a breath that seemed to carry all his stress, the superintendent wrote his signature in his last piece of paper work for the day. The sun had set a while ago and the day time shift had ended, giving way to the arrival of the night time officers. He tidied his work station and put away his confidential papers in a locked drawer before glancing at the photo in the corner of his desk. A slight smile appeared on his face despite all the stress he was in. He was doing this for them, for his wife, may she rest in peace and for his daughter, may she live happy and safe. It had been a long time, but he would see his daughter soon. He was anxious to hear about what she had been doing and how her pokemon studies had progressed. He felt guilty to not have kept up with her properly, but he trusted his good friend Professor Oak to guide her in his place when work kept him away.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Viridian City gym, the second Giovanni stepped into his quarters, with his loyal baby Meowth on his shoulder, the sweet scent of perfume greeted him along with a pleasant sight. Delia was putting the finishing touches on her outfit with some light makeup that brought out her natural beauty. She wore a royal blue dress that was long enough to be formal, but short enough not to be a ball gown. The dress hugged her body nicely, without being too showy. She had her hair down, parted to the side with a sapphire hair clip and matching earrings. Her eye shadow matched her jewelry's color and her lips glowed with clear gloss. 

This was exactly what Giovanni wanted to return to after a long day of catching up with his new gym leader duties, political socializing and managing Team Rocket. He could picture what would come next, a delicious romantic dinner from Delia's incomparable home cooking, a relaxing atmosphere and... 

"I'll be going now, don't wait up for me," Delia picked up her purse, gave Giovanni a quick kiss, petted Meowth and headed for the bedroom door.

Giovanni felt as if a pokemon had used water gun on him. "Wait a minute, where are you going at this hour, dressed like that?" Needless to say, he wasn't pleased.

Delia sighed; she should have guessed he would forget. She smiled, still in a very good mood, "I told you about it yesterday. Tonight I'm going to meet my father for dinner. He hasn't had time for me lately and wanted to catch up in a nice restaurant. I would invite you, but this is kind of a father daughter reunion and I don't think dad wants to share my attention with another man tonight. I'll make plans for all of us to get together in another occasion so you can meet him, as the gym leader, I mean... since he's with the police."

"Your father is a police officer?" Giovanni received yet another shock, which felt like being hit by an ice beam attack. 

"I told you this weeks ago," Delia reminded. You replied, and I quote, "does that mean you're an undercover officer here to seduce me into turning myself in?"

"You know I wasn't really listening!" Giovanni admitted what he felt was obvious, watching as Delia smiled and giggled. 

"We have a lot to talk about, I haven't seen my biological father in ages," Delia explained.

"I do remember you saying you spent most of your time studying with Professor Oak," Giovanni recalled. Delia had told him about how her mother passed away when she was very young due to an illness that she, fortunately, did not inherit. Her father was always buried in work and often left her with her teacher, Professor Oak, who raised her more so than her own father. "So you're going to see your father, who you're not even all that close to and is a police officer no less, instead of spending time with me?"

"That's all the more reason why I should see him!" Delia insisted, then reassured, "at his age, he's no doubt a step away from retirement." She never imagined that as things stood, her father had no intentions of retiring until he was physically unable to continue working. "I want to take the first step to become closer to him. I want him to know he can count on me and that I understand that he had to take care of his career to support me, even if I would much rather have a lot less growing up if it meant spending more time with him. That aside, I knew he had good intentions and he made sure I was always well looked after. Professor Oak was like another father to me and I never felt neglected." She took a deep breath and finished, "so you see, I really have to go see him. We have a lot of catching up to do so we might stay up late talking. You should get some rest and we'll spend some time together tomorrow. You don't even have to tell me anything about secrecy; you know I won't breathe a word."

"I trust you," Giovanni assured, "it's just surprising..." It wasn't all bad if he thought about it in the right light. The police didn't seem to represent an obstacle at the moment, even more so because they were understaffed after their internal clean up. Yet the fact remained that Jenny and who knows how many more officers, knew of his secret identity. "What if he knows who I am? What if he just wants to take you away from me?"

This was a whole other side to Giovanni that rarely showed, the side of him that was protective. Delia stayed comfortably in his embrace for a while. "I won't say a word, I promise." Delia felt a little guilty to hide the truth about her boyfriend from her biological father, yet with Professor Oak's acceptance of the relationship, though he certainly wasn't thrilled about it, she felt as if she could face anyone's disapproval or ignorant bliss with a straight face. That man was her biological father, but she would be lying if she denied feeling that Professor Oak was the main parental figure in her life. "No one is going to separate us."

xoxox xox xoxox

The police station was a short walk from the Viridian gym, but Giovanni insisted on driving Delia anyway. He didn't need to hide as the gym leader and dropped her off without incident. The police superintendent and current chief of the Viridian City police station, Davin Ketchum, exited the building just in time to see a young woman getting out of a car and the car driving off. He met the lady at the door, taking a moment to recognize her. "Delia?" He spoke unsure, barely above a whisper.

The young woman smiled, looking even more like her mother had in her healthier days. "Hi, dad." She went to hug the man she had not seen for a long time. He looked noticeably older than when she last saw him. He had lost some weight and had sleepless bags under his eyes, plus his hair had become grayer.

"Look at you, my little girl is all grown up," he spoke with a hint of sadness at having missed most of that process, though he still managed to make himself smile. "You look so much like your mother. But let's not talk out here," he began to lead her towards his car, "we'll have a nice dinner and talk until we catch up on everything."

xoxox xox xoxox

The atmosphere at the restaurant was elegant and peaceful. After the waiter left with their order, the father and daughter began to catch up on the happenings of each other's lives. "How are your studies with Professor Oak going? I haven't really spoken to him in a while," or to her. "We've both been busy; me with the police and I can only imagine how busy the epidemic has kept Samuel and you. At least the antidote is finally out there." Davin was aware of Team Rocket's involvement in that process, but chose not to mention them.

"Everything is fine now." The conversation was barely getting started and Delia already felt as if she hit a wall. "I actively participated in the research process to find an antidote." It was paraphrased, but it was still mostly true if the term research was used loosely. "I'm really glad it was finally discovered. Right now I have another job as a..." how could she define what she did for Giovanni while making it sound like a regular job? "A pokemon training assistant and secretary."

"Then you're not researching anymore?" Delia's father tried to mask the hint of disappointment in his voice. He had hoped she would become a pokemon scientist, doctor or nurse. However, as long as Delia was safe, he would be okay with the career she chose. "What do you do in your new job?"

"Lot's of things," Delia smiled and willed herself to act natural. "I help train pokemon, tend to them and take care of some business related things on the side."

The description was too general and short for Davin's liking, but he understood that his daughter might not be ready to talk as if they saw each other often, because they didn't. He blamed himself for the invisible wall between them and knew the process of bringing it down would be a slow one; so slow perhaps that it could not be done alongside his job. Yet he had to build a good world for his daughter, he found justification in that mission. "I've had some changes in my career too," Davin ventured off to speak a little about himself in hopes of building a familiarity that would encourage his daughter to tell him more about her own life. "I'm the police superintendent now." After those words were spoken, the waiter returned with their meals, setting the plates and cups on the table.

"What?" A worried expression overtook Delia's face. Her father took it logically and assumed she worried about the possible dangers of his job. He reminded himself that she was no longer a little girl, thus was more aware of the less pleasant happenings of the world. 

The waiter thought the expression was directed at the food and with the most apologetic look he could muster, he asked, "is something not to your liking, my lady?"

"I'm sorry," Delia laughed quietly and tried to lighten the atmosphere. "I was simply surprised by my father's news. Dinner looks delicious, thank you."

"I am glad you think so," the waiter was visibly relieved. "If you need anything at all, please let me know and I will be happy to get it for you. It is an honor to have you here with us, Lady Roketto."

All color drained from Delia's face as her father's countenance turned red in anger, "what did you call her?" The police superintendent demanded furiously.

The waiter bowed regretfully, "my deepest apologies, I will use more discretion in the future."

"This isn't about discretion, what do you know about the Roketto? Why did you call my daughter that? Do they have connections in the police? I will clean the force of double agents if it's the last thing I do!" Davin glared in enraged frustration at the waiter, who seemed to be at a loss for words.

The outburst brought forth the attention of several other customers, as well as the restaurant manager, who rushed over to calm the situation. "Go back to the kitchen," the manager sternly sent the waiter away, then faced the angry man and the distressed young lady. "I apologize if you were offended. I will assign you a new waiter and your meal shall be on the house." They were aware of who Giovanni was through the connections the establishment's owner shared with the mayor.

Enraged to seemingly be counted as an ally of the mafia, Davin was about to angrily reply, but there was yet another interruption. "Delia!" Rune Antilles' loud voice bellowed from across the elegant dinning hall, adorned in gold and green. He hurried to the other side of the restaurant taking his young son's hand to make him dash along with him and signaling for his wife to follow. While Rune clumsily made his way towards the commotion, dragging a confused young Kenobi along, who only wanted to finish his barely started dessert; Naberrie Antilles, who sometimes chouse to go by her maiden name of Naberrie Coruscant, wife of Rune and mother of Kenobi, made her way over in a slow and regal fashion. She possessed grace that made her husband's occasional ineptness seem far too mismatched for her.

"You are the newly elected mayor," Davin recognized Rune and further wondered what was going on. There were rumors about the new mayor forming an alliance with the gym leader, even if no proof could be found of any wrong doings. The fact remained that the mayor and the gym leader seemed to be good friends in the public eye and that was suspicious enough.

"Yes, yes I am and I am quite pleased and ready to keep my promises of making Viridian City a better place!" After his brief acknowledgement to the man who he didn't realize was the new police superintendent and Viridian police chief; Rune directed his happy outburst towards Delia. "It's so wonderful that you're here. Perhaps you'd consider joining my family's table after you are finished with your business? We would be so honored. Oh, yes, this is my son, Kenobi." Rune finally released the boy's hand, remembering that he had dragged him over with the purpose of introducing him to Delia.

"Kenobi, greet the lady properly," in the span of time that had passed, Naberrie had since caught up to her husband at her own composed pace. Her voice was sweet yet commanding. The color of her hair and eyes were nothing like her son's who at first glance seemed to take completely after his father with black hair and green eyes. However, if one set aside her sky blue eyes and her hair which seemed to be an eternal debate between purple and crimson, it was possible to notice some of her features in her son. Her angular thin nose, long shape of the eyes and pronounced facial features made their appearance in her son in a more boyish manner that was a definite contrast to his father's nearly square head and full cheeks. 

At his mother's voice, Kenobi bowed like a gentleman of times passed asking a noble lady to dance. He took Delia's delicate hand in his small one and placed a kiss on it. "I am Kenobi Antilles Coruscant, at your service dear lady."

"And I am Naberrie Coruscant of Antilles," the lady added. "It is fortunate that we have met."

"Coruscant?!" Davin was further angered by the mention of the name of a mafia family, though it was a name of the past. The Coruscant clan was no longer as big as it used to be, some said consumed by the Roketto and others theorized sabotaged by one of its own members. 

"My name is Delia Ketchum, I am pleased to meet you both," Delia replied formally while throwing a worried glance at her father, who was feeling utterly ignored and disrespected. 

"Should I find a bigger table for everyone?" The restaurant manager could feel the tension in the air and wanted the situation to settle down as quickly as possible.

"My husband and I have already dined and were only waiting for our son to consume his dessert. However, I believe Lady Delia's dinner yet remains untouched. Perhaps she would enjoy dinning under the stars, let us move to a table on the roof." Naberrie's elegant and commanding voice once again left no room for argument. Her young son discreetly tugged on the skirt of her dress, the smooth fabric an undecided color between dark purple and black, depending on the angle and light. The boy's silent message was answered by his mother's hand briefly resting on his head. "We would also like for our son's dessert to be moved there as well and do prepare some coffee for my husband and I." She did not have to specify which kind because they already knew what to get for her.

"This is an outrage!" Davin exploded, "I know who you are." He pointed accusingly at Naberrie, who merely chuckled in indifference.

The elegant woman twirled her long hair around her fingers, accentuated with dark crimson nails that matched her lipstick. She allowed her hair to fall over one shoulder, the other bare in her elegant dress. "Delia, darling, you have much to learn about controlling your business, they are a double edged sword after all." She began to walk away placing a friendly arm around Delia's shoulder and leaning in to whisper things the other woman didn't understand as they walked away from the scene.

Delia, confused beyond reason, allowed Naberrie to lead her away towards the luxurious stairs. Kenobi cheerfully followed walking beside his mother. Rune was the last to react and scurried along after them, not before telling the frustrated superintendent, "we should go," still unaware of who Davin was in more ways than one. Rune had learned that when Naberrie spoke everyone was to remain silent, especially him, as she often pointed out that he had the most vexing ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Visibly fuming, Davin followed the group to the roof of the restaurant, intending to resolve the conflict of confusion that overtook him and find out what kind of connection those dreadful people may have with his dear sweet daughter.

As soon as they were on the roof, away from prying eyes and ears, Davin demanded to know, "what is the meaning of this? Do you people intend to threaten my daughter?" As he threw out the accusation, he pulled Delia away from Naberrie and reached for his police gun.

"That was a most unwise move," Naberrie's icy glare chilled the atmosphere, no one could ignore her strong presence. The click of a dozen sniper rifles being readied echoed through the silence as Davin released his gun into its holster and left it there. He knew it would do him no good to try to defend his daughter against such terrible odds. He could barely see the silhouettes of the hidden guards in the darkness.

"You planned this, you somehow knew that I would be here," Davin was frustrated for taking so long to react. He wanted answers in relation to his daughter's apparent recognition of the mayor, who turned out to be the husband of a lady of the mafia. He should have known Delia must be utterly confused; they must be strangers to her, whom she politely humored because she recognized the Viridian mayor's face. "Leave Delia out of this, she's innocent!"

Unable to stand it any longer, Delia finally spoke, "enough of this. I would like to know what's going on. What business do you have with my father?"

"None what so ever, my dear, sit, eat, your dinner will become cold," Naberrie took a seat at the table, signaling for Delia to do the same. "Do not feel threatened, friend, the guards are here to protect you as much as they are here to protect me."

"Delia is not your friend!" Davin tried to stop his daughter from sitting down, but could not.

"Father, please calm down," Delia spoke as evenly and urgently as she could while suppressing the alarm in her voice. "Sit, eat and relax. I will take care of the situation." 

Davin sat down next to Delia, but did not touch his meal. Kenobi sat between his mother and Delia, closer to Naberrie, absorbed in the enjoyable process of eating his cake, slowly and properly. Rune sat at Naberrie's other side, silent save for the quiet thanks he offered the restaurant manager when he brought coffee for him and his wife.

Taking a deep breath, Delia tried to sort the mess that lay before her. "First of all I must clarify that I am here to have a nice quiet dinner with my father, I am not conducting any business."

"I see," Naberrie observed, her eyes focused on a point beyond the table as if staring off into the distance in superiority. "Though you both had the name of Ketchum," she spoke of Delia presently counting her as a Roketto, "I had assumed that the title of father was something you reserved for Professor Samuel Oak of Pallet Town."

Delia stiffened; the last thing she wanted was to add something hurtful to the already nerve-wrecking mess. "This is not the issue at hand," she neutrally spoke. "Davin Ketchum is my biological father and I appreciate him. If you know about Professor Oak, if you know so much about me, then you must be will informed about my purpose for being here tonight."

"Indeed," Naberrie confirmed. "No more charades, I will go to the point and tell you the story, but that man's determination is a hindrance so I would rather he not hear it. Fear not, he will not be harmed, I just want him to leave for a short while." With a discreet nod, Naberrie called two of her armed guards, who stepped forward to escort Davin away.

"Go with them, it'll be okay," Delia assured, though she was uncertain of it herself. What she did know was that she felt frustrated. That frustration evolved into anger and her seldom dried patience ran short. As soon as her father was out of sight and thus presumably out of earshot, Delia spoke as bravely as she could. She could feel the invincibility of a vigilante once again, but there was something dark about it. It was as if the vigilante, though still powerful, had been corrupted. She pushed the worries away and stayed strong. "If you are so well informed, then you must know who I am beyond a name and face. You must know the power of the Roketto." She glanced at Rune, who seemed far easier to intimidate and far less intimidating then Naberrie. Then with her best impression of an angry Giovanni, Delia dangerously warned, "if what you have offered the Roketto is a false alliance..." She purposely trailed off into silence, her glare unbreakable, leaving a nervous Rune to picture all the horrors his imagination could come up with. 

The mayor began to sweat and shift uncomfortably in his seat. Kenobi was enjoying the last portion of his slice of cake while ignoring the grown up talk and Naberrie remained unfazed. "On the contrary," Naberrie's sweet voice pierced the atmosphere with the strength of a thousand knives. "This is the proof of our true alliance." Naberrie paused and glanced at her son, who had finished his dessert and sat quietly waiting. "Kenobi, would you like a chocolate shake?" Offer a child sweets and regardless of the amount of food recently consumed, the child will gladly agree, Kenobi was no exception to the rule.

"I would love one," Kenobi smiled with the true innocence of a child.

"Rune, why don't you take Kenobi downstairs and get a chocolate shake? Delia and I will stay here and talk woman to woman," Naberrie smiled, her face serene yet somehow still commanding.

"Yes, darling!" Rune was all too happy to get a breather from the tense atmosphere. Kenobi paid the guards no mind, as his mother had told him they were present to keep them safe and it would be impolite to stare at them. Rune never truly got used to his wife's way of life, which he considered to be excessive in terms of danger.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. The semi-transparent pokeballs are from a manga. The video files found at New Island are from the start of the Mewtwo Strikes Back movie.


	31. Part 31

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 103: Give me Righteousness 

In a fateful encounter in the past, Delia met Naberrie for the first time while at a restaurant with her father. Davin Ketchum, who was at the time the newly appointed police superintendent for Kanto, was acting as the police chief for the Viridian station until the force's understaffing problem was resolved. That problem had come as a result of the authorities being finally cleaned of corruption to start anew after Team Rocket took out the gangs associated with them. There was an unspoken agreement of mutual indifference and ignorant pretense between Team Rocket and the police, which would only grow with the coming years, more so as one generation ended and new younger officers took over on a clean slate, knowing little of the expanding control of Team rocket until it was too late. 

For what was it worth doing anything when inaction seemed to be the only safe path? That was a way of thinking that was not shared by the superintendent, which led to a conflict with Naberrie. Davin was being held at a secret room in the restaurant by armed guards so that he may not interfere with Delia and Naberrie's conversation at a table on the roof. The Viridian mayor, Rune Antilles, then at the beginning of his political career, was downstairs with his young son, Kenobi.

Naberrie observed Delia sitting across the table from her and began her tale. "Years ago, the Coruscant clan ruled the underworld in equal terms with their rivals, the Roketto. My father was the head of Coruscant, being the oldest son. However, his power hungry younger sister was determined to come out on top. By a series of events that I cannot begin to imagine, she ended up married to the head of the Roketto. Peculiarly, the Roketto leader passed away when their first born was still a toddler. Some say she had him killed after she had seduced him to obtain his power. Far from having any intentions of uniting the Coruscant with the Roketto, the widow who let go of her name to simply be known as Madame, the new leader of the Roketto, waged a war which Coruscant lost and established her firm rule. Years passed and her son left determined to build his gang on his own. From there on out, you know the story well."

Realization hit Delia like a Golem. "Your father and Giovanni's mother are siblings!" She began to worry, but tried not to show it. 

Before Delia could inquire about Naberrie's intention, theorizing that revenge was part of her agenda, Naberrie interrupted with, "were." Seeing Delia's puzzlement she elaborated, "my father and Giovanni's mother were siblings, since he is no longer among the living."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Delia's voice was sincere, her mask falling off to reveal compassion. She inevitably wondered if the death of Naberrie's father could have been a direct consequence of Madame's actions. "Even if it was because of what Madame did, you shouldn't blame Giovanni for it. He has no control over his mother's actions, they don't even get along. Besides, this happened a long time ago, right? Giovanni was still a child, as were we."

"I do not blame Madame for the fate of my father; his own stupidity led him to his downfall," Naberrie ascertained with a hint of anger in her eyes and a predatory curve upon her lips. "His talents as a leader were null, yet he was given the right of the firstborn. He exhausted our resources to the point where the once proud Coruscant family was indebted to many of the smaller gangs of Kanto. He had nothing left so I put him out of his misery."

Delia gasped at the revelation, "you... your own father!"

"This world is not for one as innocent as you, Delia." Naberrie looked almost mocking. "I honestly don't understand what Giovanni is thinking, but it is obvious he's not with you for your heritage. Even if your father is the police superintendent, that is something that only became true recently and I agree with my aunt's policy to not negotiate with the police. To do so would be to give them the advantage as they play both sides of the law, while we are perpetually in the side that stands against it." 

Naberrie continued her explanation and criticism, ignoring Delia's look of utter shock. She could tell that the other woman's indignation was not due to being casted as a bad choice for Giovanni, but more so because of the surprise of what happened in the mafia all for the sake of power. "When those small gangs were wiped out by Team Rocket, the Coruscant, which had been reduced to virtually nothing by the time I became the new boss, was finally free. However, there was nothing more to do than to break even and thus the clan was in essence disbanded. At some point before that, I had met and married Rune, a cargo merchant commanding a modest market share well behind its competitors, especially the titan of cargo transport, Calrissian Cargo. After becoming free of my clan and its debts, I decided to start anew. Even if Madame was brilliant in the past, she too has fallen from power. It seems the commanding power right now is Giovanni, thus I will offer my alliance to him, I already have through city hall."

"You want to be Giovanni's ally?" To say Delia had doubts about Naberrie's sincerity was an understatement. "If that is true, then why are you doing this? Why did you cause such a commotion at the restaurant, people were watching and you should know that's not good for Giovanni." 

"You didn't notice and neither did he," Naberrie leaned back on her chair and closed her eyes in indifferent superiority. Being raised as a lady of the mafia, albeit her family was already spiraling down when she was born, the way she carried herself was similar to Madame. However, Madame seemed to be one step ahead of everything and everyone, irradiating power without trying, in an atmosphere that was both calmer and deadlier than Naberrie's. "Davin Ketchum is being used. He is not the real police superintendent, he's bait. After Team Rocket took out most of the gangs, the police obtained a one in a lifetime opportunity to finish the clean up. They did not waste that chance and put a plan into action. Unfortunately, I do not know the specifics, but I can assure you that your father is being used. The police is trying to take out Giovanni now, before he firmly establishes his rule. This is a plan that doesn't include the whole or even the majority of the force, but an elite group of officers and government officials acting along side an unknown third party. Team Rocket is just starting to expand, most of the police and government gave up the war after loosing the battle, but there are those who are willing to risk it all."

Delia remained silent for a long moment until she swallowed air and pushed her voice to function. "I will have to confirm if what you say is true."

"Naturally," Naberrie expected the doubts. "You will also come to understand that my actions here tonight have spared you a lot of trouble. Your father will be released, minus his weapon, which my men will keep as a souvenir, though I'm sure he'll receive a replacement at the police station. However, a stop must be put to tonight's plot. You will not meet Davin again until you have confirmed my warning; I will personally escort you to the Viridian Gym."

"I want to see my father," Delia protested. "How do I know you won't hurt him?"

"You will find out later when there is no news of the supposed superintendent being killed," Naberrie offered. "He will most likely try to contact you, but you must not speak to him. He knows about Giovanni and when he finds out you're with him, he'll try to get information from you to separate you from him and arrest him. If that happens, he'll be playing right into the trap of the real superintendent. You will find, as will Giovanni, upon further investigation, that my intentions are sincere and that I was of vital help tonight," Naberrie emphasized. 

From there on the following events proceeded as per Naberrie's orders. Davin was released into the forest minus his police gun and left there. Delia was taken to the Viridian Gym in front of which she exited the mayor's limousine with its other passengers, Naberrie, Rune and Kenobi, remaining unseen. 

xoxox xox xoxox

After the mayor's limousine dropped her off at the Viridian Gym, Delia had too very important things to do. One was to ensure the safety of her father and the other was to tell Giovanni about what happened, so that he may take the proper contingency measures if Naberrie's warning turned out to be true and perhaps more so if she turned out to be lying. Team Rocket was only just beginning to truly establish its rule despite its fast growth in the economy and number of members. Its descent into a darker path was only looming in the approaching future yet to come and the feeling of being a righteous, albeit illegal, vigilante was still in Delia's heart. No matter what, Kanto needed Team Rocket, she and Giovanni would not let it fall apart.

With such thoughts in mind, Delia hurried upstairs to the gym's living area. She opened the door to her and Giovanni's room surprised that for once, Giovanni had no extra work to keep him up late. Instead he was sleeping peacefully with his young Meowth curled up by his side. "Wake up, Giovanni!" Delia turned on the overhead lights disturbing her lover's slumber. "This is urgent!"

In a split second, Giovanni was fully awake and out of bed, while the Meowth was still in the process of stretching and yawning, with no idea what was making his mother fuss so much. "What happened?" Giovanni urged Delia to reveal.

"A lot, my father may be in danger, no, he is in danger!" Delia exclaimed, her voice sinking into panic. "First of all I need to locate him and make sure he's safe, can you have agents help search the city? I don't think they could have gone far yet. We need to investigate who the police superintendent is, the real one I mean. Naberrie needs to be investigated and even Rune, to be safe." The mayor didn't look like he would hurt a Caterpie, but Delia didn't want to take any chances.

"Delia, slow down, where are you going with all of this?" Giovanni was confused and did not like what little he could theorize about from the information he managed to grasp out of Delia's rushed statement.

"The agents, the search, now!" Delia insisted adamantly, unable to focus on anything else until she knew actions were being taken about her father's safety. "His name is Davin Ketchum, graying brown hair, about five inches taller than me and... The only pictures I have of him are old and in a box of random things I left at Professor Oak's laboratory back when I left for my Cerulean City internship." She suddenly regretted procrastinating to go pick it up, as the box in question was usually forgotten seconds after being remembered when it came to mind.

"It's okay, that's enough, he'll be found and brought here," Giovanni offered, trying to calm Delia.

"No, don't," Delia exclaimed, "If he's fine just let him be. Have him call me, I'll tell him I'm alright and that's it. Don't interfere. We still don't know if the police is really using him, or Naberrie, or both."

"Right, we'll do that," Giovanni delegated orders to his top agents through his cell phone. "The search has started, they'll keep us informed," Giovanni pressed a button on his cell phone, ending the communication. "Now from the beginning, what's happening with the police?" He inquired, adding with a grumble, "I knew this would be trouble," while at the same time being silently thankful that Delia at least made it back unharmed. 

Delia began her explanation as fast and clearly as she could. "I was at a restaurant with my father when-"

The name of Naberrie, which Delia had mentioned, tugged at Giovanni's memory until he realized why it sounded familiar. He suddenly interrupted Delia by asking, "Naberrie Coruscant?"

"Yes, your cousin," Delia confirmed.

Giovanni's face was immediately invaded by distrust. He didn't know Naberrie well, other than the fact that she was his cousin. He had seen her maybe twice in his life and had not spoken to her on either occasion. He could come up with a number of reasons why she would want to stand against him, but certainly didn't expect her to actually take action, now of all times, let alone to involve Delia. "What did she do?"

"That's just it, I don't know for sure," the hopeful side of Delia wished with all her might that Naberrie kept her word about her father being safe. That would place the police as their main enemy if she truly wanted to be their ally, but that could be dealt with later. 

Delia's explanation was interrupted again, this time by the ringing of Giovanni's cell phone, piercing the urgency in the atmosphere to fill it with a few eternal seconds of excruciating uncertainty waiting for the news that could be a relief or a catastrophe. "Did you find him?" Giovanni spoke into the device.

Accentuating his reply with a yawn, followed by a grunt, Proton answered, "yeah, I found him, he was pretty close by. The stubborn old man had a few nasty things to say about me the second he saw me, but we have him under control."

"Good, put him on," Giovanni passed the cell phone to Delia.

She took it with shaking hands and almost desperately called, "dad, are you alright?"

"As alright as a prisoner of the mafia can be, or worse yet, the father of a prisoner of the mafia. Delia, what in the world is this about?" Davin's out of breath outrage was heard over the cell phone.

"You're not a prisoner and neither am I, but you might be being used by the police," Delia revealed with a tired breath. "Listen, just go back home and act natural. The police needs you so they won't hurt you, the less you know, the safer you'll be. I'll be watching over you, so don't worry. I'll get to the bottom of this and get you out. For now, just go home and pretend this call never happened, don't worry about me. I'm safe and I'll keep you safe, please, just do what I say, I'll see you as soon as I can."

Davin was horrified that his daughter, sounded very much like she was well connected with the mafia. There was no doubt in his mind that it was indeed Delia's voice so similar to her mother's, speaking words he would never have guessed she would speak. At least she was safe, if the term safe was used loosely. Davin didn't know what was going on, but he knew he had to comply, if not for his well being, for hers. "I'll do what you say, please, stay safe, Delia."

After reassuring her father some more, Delia ended the conversation and Davin was released. She gave the cell phone back to Giovanni just in time for him to hear Proton's complaints. "For crying out loud, Giovanni! I get woken up in the middle of the night, on the one night I actually decide to stay at base and get some much needed sleep. Then I'm sent on a wild Farfetch'd hunt for some old man through the forest and when I do find him, you don't even keep him around. What in the world is going on?" 

"That's what I would like to know," came Giovanni's voice, followed by the tone that indicated the communication had been disconnected.

Once again left in silence, Delia took a deep breath and tried to fully explain what she knew. "While at the restaurant with my father, mayor Antilles approached to say hello. I didn't know what was going on, but his wife, Naberrie," Delia observed Giovanni's expression turn to angry surprise upon realizing that Rune being married to Naberrie was a fact that had remained hidden from him. Ending her pause, Delia continued, "she took us to the roof and she had armed guards. They took my father away and she told me many things. She said that dad's recent promotion to police superintendent was false and the real superintendent along with a small group of officers and government officials were using him allied with an unknown third party. They want to take out Team Rocket and Naberrie interrupted their plot to gain information through my father, who seems to know nothing of this, by interfering tonight. She said she wanted to be your ally and that this was the proof of it. I don't know if she's telling the truth, but I think both possibilities need to be investigated."

"I don't trust her," Giovanni stated strongly. "I don't trust Rune either." A man such as Rune Antilles, so carefree, distracted and easy to manipulate had to be someone else's puppet. Giovanni just discovered that he was not the one controlling Rune after all; someone else had set things up to make it look that way. "We're going to need more information; Team Rocket will be at full alert. I'm especially curious about that third party you mentioned. We can investigate the police and Naberrie, but unless we know who our third enemy is, finding more information will be difficult."

xoxox xox xoxox

For the next few days a detailed investigation was conducted by Team Rocket. In the mean time, at a loss for what to do and fearing for his daughter's safety, Davin was determined to conduct an investigation of his own. He did not report the happenings of the restaurant to the police. The group of officers and government officials who set him up were aware of what had happened, up until the time when Naberrie interfered and took them out of range of their spies. However, since Davin didn't bring it up, neither did the higher ups, so as to not let him know he was being closely watched, assuming he was unaware of it. 

As for the conversation between Naberrie and Delia, that remained a mystery to the police, but they had guesses as to what could have gone on. That made them especially careful around Davin, doubting how much he knew and how far he would go. With the worry in the back of his mind that the police was using him, Davin decided that he had a good enough excuse to justify his silence in the worries about his daughter's safety. He would, as Delia instructed, proceed as if her call never occurred. He did not need to act his desperation, as it felt quite real when he headed to Pallet Town to speak to Professor Oak, wondering how much he knew about Delia's current life. He felt reproachful towards the man to whom he had entrusted his daughter. Simultaneously, he also felt that he had no right to blame Samuel, since raising and guiding Delia was his duty as a father and not the duty of his friend.

The morning was gloomy with gray clouds covering the sky when Davin arrived at the Oak laboratory. Light rain fell barely noticeable every now and then, threatening to bring forth a strong downpour which had thus far not come. Parking his car in front of the brick fence of the property, Davin exited the vehicle and noted that the gates leading to the stairs in front of the main building were parted; Samuel probably forgot to close them the night before. He made his way up the stairs with a rushed yet uncertain pace, stopping mid way as the front door coincidentally opened. 

Samuel Oak bent over to pick up the newspaper that was at the foot of his door. As he straightened, he saw the man standing mid way up his stairs and recognized him almost instantly, "Davin!" His first reaction was the happiness anyone would feel laying eyes upon an old friend that one has not seen in a long time. It mixed with the excitement of an upcoming pleasant conversation and finally sank into a well hidden worry. Delia's path in life was something that Samuel had accepted, but Davin may not. The professor wondered how much Davin knew, though he theorized that not much. He guessed that the man was there to visit his daughter at long last, assuming she was still his student. 

"Samuel, I need to speak to you," Davin finished going up the stairs adding, "inside," with a serious tone. It was as if he debated if he should apologize to Samuel for making him carry the duty of raising someone else's child or to punch him for allowing Delia to take the path Davin himself should have been there to protect her from. Overall the benefit of the doubt won over and Davin restrained himself from any sort of physical or verbal outburst.

Seeing the seriousness in the other man's face, Samuel stepped aside to allow him passage inside his residence. He closed the door, locking it behind them and tossed the all but forgotten newspaper on the living room coffee table. Both men sat down on the couch, which was as hard as an Onix, though neither seemed to care about the discomfort, their minds too filled with more imperative thoughts. "This is about Delia, isn't it?" Samuel guessed, coming up with a theory different from his thoughts of a mere few seconds ago. Davin knew something and if he didn't know, he must suspect. Never had Samuel seen such a mixed look on Davin's face, he was serious, worried, unsure, afraid, regretful, disappointed, angry and... reproachful?

"Yes," Davin confirmed and not wanting to dance around the subject he revealed. "I know she's in trouble with the mafia," because any kind of involvement with them was trouble by his definition. "I don't know in how much trouble she is, enlighten me." Davin's voice came out as a sharp order that Samuel knew he couldn't refuse.

Shifting uncomfortably, Samuel tried to voice some difficult revelations. "Delia is..." the pokemon Professor paused and looked at his friend in the eyes. "I'm not going to run away from this discussion, but I think you should talk to Delia first. After you've spoken to her, you can come to me and we'll talk."

"I already talked to her. She said the police was using me, she said she would keep an eye on me. She sounded as if she was really with them, with the mafia. I knew it was odd to promote me at my age, when the murmurs I've heard from the office are that they thought it was about time for me to retire," Davin realized he should have been suspicious before. "It was too good to be true to think that after all those corrupt officers were taken out of the force they suddenly decided to appreciate my experience. It turns out I was apparently part of the clean up. Delia doesn't want me to go looking for her and I'm worried something might happen to her if I do. Samuel, you know something and I need to know exactly what it is, I have the right!" Davin exploded, his voice louder and more enraged than Samuel had ever heard it.

Samuel stared at Davin in shock for a moment. "I am not well informed in such internal affairs," he admitted. "If Delia wants you to lay low and watch your back with the police, it's best to listen to her." He let out a stressful breath, "I apologize if I've inevitably broken your trust, believe me when I say that I care for Delia as if she were my own daughter. It all began with her internship at the Cerulean City Pokemon Center. She was missing for a while and when I saw her again she was... she was the same as ever, except she had a boyfriend. He's the head of Team Rocket, the Viridian Gym leader, Giovanni."

"He'll pay for this!" Davin exclaimed in absolute fury. "Taking away my little girl and getting her involved in all this trouble!" He stood up and paced, as if he wanted to run back to his car and rush to Viridian City to strangle Giovanni.

"Davin, please calm down!" Samuel stood to block the doorway. "It's not great, but it's not terrible." That was before Delia showed up back at Pallet Town pregnant and heartbroken; it was before Samuel felt true anger towards Giovanni. "It might actually be more good than bad in a certain light. I think they truly care about each other and it was Team Rocket that ended the epidemic, everyone owes them for that. I suppose you could think of them as vigilantes in a way."

"Nonsense!" Davin shouted, "listen to yourself, this is the mafia we're talking about, the mafia!"

The outburst was interrupted by a somewhat odd sounding feminine voice just outside the front door, "open the door this instant, this is the police!"

The two men froze for what felt like an eternity, until finally Samuel reacted, "just act natural," a million excuses ran through his mind, though he doubted any smart officer would believe him if he said he and Davin were only rehearsing a play and their argument was not real. None the less, he knew they would gain nothing by hiding inside the house, thus he opened the door.

There stood officer Jenny in her usual police uniform, miniskirt included, "Davin Ketchum, Samuel Oak, you are both hereby under arrest!"

"You can't!" Davin protested, too stressed and worried to form any real excuse.

"Officer, please, let's talk, I'm sure there's been a misunderstanding!" Samuel pleaded.

"I'd like to hear what you have to say," Jenny agreed, stepping forward, which caused the two men to step out of the way to let her in. The officer then closed the door and locked it. "What's your excuse?" Samuel and Davin remained silent, trying to calculate their words carefully until their visitor grew impatient and scolded them in a voice that was not female. "You were so loud the entire town could probably hear you. What would you have done if the real Jenny came to arrest you? It's my job to keep an eye on you, so don't make it more difficult than it is." He then removed his wig to reveal purple hair. "My name is Petrel, one of the elite agents of Team Rocket, I'm here for your protection."

Samuel and Davin wore matching shocked expressions. Davin fell into a sitting position on the rock hard couch and held his head in agony. His daughter was not only hanging out with the mafia, but with cross-dressing weirdos too.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 104: Give me Security

At the Viridian City gym, Rune arrived most unexpectedly around mid day. He was unaware that Naberrie and Giovanni were related and only knew of her intentions of becoming his ally. The detail of them being cousins didn't truly matter to either, though if Rune knew, he would surely have something to comment about it, as he often had something to comment on everything. The topic of conversation that day was lunch, the business lunch that Giovanni had apparently arranged to have with Rune with the purpose of discussing various things related to the city and their duties as mayor and gym leader respectively. In truth, Giovanni had not arranged that lunch meeting, but he did receive a call from Naberrie asking for an update and to let him know that Rune was on his way.

By then Team Rocket had noticed that Davin was indeed being watched and sent Petrel to investigate. His mission was also to make sure nothing happened to Delia's father which could cause trouble for her, in turn for Giovanni and thus for Team Rocket. As for Naberrie sending the clueless Rune over to the Viridian Gym, it was Naberrie's way to provide some insurance of her intentions, though Giovanni had a feeling that if it came to that, she would be willing to do little for the sake of her husband's release.

The situation slowly became clearer and it looked like Naberrie's intentions for the time being were true. Yet Giovanni still didn't trust her. Even if her wish was to be his ally, her plans later down the road could be something very different, something traitorous. For the time being at least, while exercising caution, her influence could be allowed to serve as a benefit to Team Rocket. Following Giovanni's strategy, which would expose Naberrie's personnel albeit she did not protest in their name, through threats and bribery, the real police superintendent was discovered and a general assessment of his plans were made.

In truth the elite little group of officers and government officials were only opportunists that were trying to appear as heroes. Their plans were not all that complex, use Davin as a spy through Delia, then seek to discover a weakness in Team Rocket to take advantage of. If worse came to worse, come up with some accusations for Delia and use her to negotiate in a way that would hopefully lead to Giovanni's arrest, despite any use he might make of technicalities and contacts. Of course, Giovanni would not let it get to that. 

There was also that third party to think about. The impression Giovanni got from the investigation was that they were in charge and the officers and government agents were only along for the ride in search of easy fame, recognition and rewards. By spying on the communications of the police and government, clues were found as to the identity of that third party. 

"It's almost certain that the third party involved is Silph," Archer informed on a gloomy afternoon with gray clouds and so little light that one would think it was evening. The atmosphere seemed fitting to Delia's mood as she listened. "Either way, this strategy of theirs is weak. I think Silph Co. may be using the police and government agents involved to cover their true plans, which probably include playing heroes."

"Then all we have to do is stop them," Giovanni concluded. The meeting, which consisted of Giovanni, Delia, Archer, Ariana and Proton, then took a more defined direction in relation to the plans to stop Silph Co.

xoxox xox xoxox

That evening, Giovanni and Delia had an argument about her going to the Silph Co. building in Saffron City with a few other Rockets. "This is my father we're talking about; I want to personally make sure that any actions that could be taken against him are stopped." It was the dilemma of the vigilantes and the reason why they so often chose to keep their identities a secret, so that those linked to them would not have to suffer for their actions.

"That's exactly what they want, to catch you in the middle of an illegal act and take you away. Even if we have our reasons to do this, even if it is to defend Team Rocket, we're still trespassing by breaking into Silph Co. with this investigation. Besides, even if it turns out that the leader of this whole conspiracy is staying at the building as our sources indicate, who's to say our discovery of his plans will be enough to put a stop to them? We don't know what will have to be done once we're there, as things stand now we'll decide when the time comes and I don't want you in the middle of that uncertainty. Then there's also Naberrie, what if she's planning something?" Giovanni tried to reason with Delia to make her stay back at the Viridian base, but she wouldn't have it.

"Giovanni," she looked into his eyes with determination and reassurance. "We've been in more dangerous situations before and have come out on top. What we're doing is illegal, but it's done for the right reasons. We're the protectors of Kanto and we can't let anyone stop us from accomplishing our duties to the world."

If that could be translated to taking over the world, then it was indeed their duty from Giovanni's perspective. He realized that he was not going to win this argument. Though usually flexible and understanding, when Delia set her mind on something, there was simply no stopping her. "If you insist on going to Silph Co., then I will go too."

xoxox xox xoxox

The gloomy weather that dominated Kanto that day with gray skies and light rain, had taken a turn for the worse in the shape of an all out downpour in Saffron City that night. Delia and Giovanni were there to infiltrate the Silph Co. building with a small elite team consisting of Proton, Luke, Ben and themselves. 

Archer, Ariana, Aayla, Leah and a few others would be secretly keeping an eye on Naberrie's movements as well as entertaining Rune, who wisely decided not to listen to his curiosity and suspicions, instead playing along as he was told. Petrel was still in Pallet Town, at the Oak laboratory where Davin was instructed to stay. Thankfully, he was no longer in disguise and instead wore his customized version of the Team Rocket uniform, with shiny golden details to accentuate the black fabric.

Binks was immersed in his scientific research. The New Island facilities were not yet built and he instead was beginning to work with Ackbar Inc. It was Delia who convinced Giovanni to do business with Bane Ackbar, subsequent to hearing of his son's delicate health condition. After humoring Delia's compassion, Giovanni saw that the deal was indeed a good opportunity and a long term secret business relation began between Ackbar Inc. and Team Rocket. While the future was full of possibilities, it still needed to be protected and ensured. 

"This is like, not like cool, you know?" Luke whispered in the darkness of the night. He was cold and wet, as was almost everyone else, as they stood in the darkness outside of the Silph Co. building. 

"No, it's freezing; this is a fine night you picked to sneak around, Giovanni." Proton was hard at work picking the back door's lock with only his black hat to protect him from the rain. Big umbrellas didn't exactly scream sneaky. 

Delia was the only one with enough sense to bring a raincoat. It had been difficult to find a black one, but when she did, she purchased it immediately, earning an amused chuckle from Giovanni, who was sure she would never need it. She proved that it was best to be prepared when she dug it out of the closet and took it along for the mission. 

Ben finished cutting some wires from a previously sealed box on the wall and joined the group as the back door was opened, leading into a small storage room. Their footsteps were accentuated with dripping sounds and the 'splash, squish' sound of their boots. "I can almost hear Petrel saying I told you so," Ben quietly voiced.

"Okay, so maybe buying discount boots wasn't such a good idea. Things were just getting started, the newbies needed uniforms and I had more important investments to make. It was before the budget was adjusted with the antidote revenues." Giovanni removed his boots, as did everyone else to prevent being noisy. The floor was very cold beneath their bare feet. "Remind me to put Petrel in charge of buying the uniforms from now on, he's picky, but maybe that's not so bad after all."

"I should tell him about the ninja gear shop where I bought this rain coat." Delia removed it to reveal her dry and cozy Team Rocket uniform which was not freezing cold with rain water nor sticking to her skin uncomfortably as everyone else's clothes were.

"Requesting permission to strip, sir." Proton did a mock salute and began to pull his shirt over his head, only to have Giovanni stop him.

"We're Team Rocket; we need to wear our uniforms with our symbol," the leader argued. "Besides, no one will take you seriously if you go around in your underwear." Pouting, Proton left his clothes on.

Remembering a past event, Ben commented, "I seriously thought Aayla was going to cough out a lung that time." He had removed the covers over some wires on the wall and proceeded to cut several of them. Studying the stolen blueprints of the structure of Silph Co.'s building was of great benefit.

"What happened?" Delia curiously and quietly inquired. "Was Proton running around the hideout drunk in his underwear?"

"Once, I did that only once," Proton grumbled, remembering vaguely how he tried to flirt with Leah and got slapped for it. She was petite, but she could be strong when she tried, his face hurt for hours.

"Nah, I was like going out to like surf in a storm, you know? I like talked Giovanni and Ben into like coming with me, you know?" Luke explained, with a fond smile as if the entire ordeal had been amusing to him. "The beach was like closed and like off limits, you know? But the waves were like totally awesome, man! Dudette, I like knew I like had to try them, you know? Then the police like totally like ruined our fun, you know? They like chased us out and were like trying to arrest us, you know? We were all like in swimming shorts and like didn't have time to like grab the bag with our clothes when we like ran away, you know? It was like hilarious, dudette."

"The police confiscated the bag with the clothes and we ended up running all the way back to the hideout in shorts, in the middle of a storm," Giovanni glared at Luke upon remembering the event. "I promised myself never to let Luke convince me to go to the beach in a storm ever again no matter how many 'dude, you're like our like awesome like fearless leader, you know?' speeches he gave me."

"Dude, you like never like got around to like try the stormy waves, man!" Luke complained, "you would like totally like know that they're like totally worth the risk if you did, you know? At least we like saved my surf board, you know?"

"Yeah, Luke wouldn't leave his surf board behind and we ended up using it to shield ourselves from the rain," Ben added as he made a pause in his wire work, then started to plug in a small device. "If anything we looked more ridiculous. We had to return on foot because we had taken a bus and later they cancelled the busses because of the storm." 

"It was like our only choice, because the chocolate bar was like not feeling like well, you know?" Luke recalled. "The poor car like died like tragically like a week later, you know?"

"I think it might be better to stay indoors during a storm," Delia giggled at the imaginary image of three young men in beach shorts, running to shelter while carrying a surf board, all three trying to use it to protect themselves from the harsh weather.

"I ordered Aayla to clean the entire hideout for laughing at us, but I always suspected she made Binks do it for her," Giovanni mused. "Remind me to send her on some annoying mission some time."

"I'm glad I stayed at the hideout that time," Proton voiced, "even if Archer, Petrel and I lost miserably playing strip poker with Ariana. All three of us ganged up against her and ended up losing anyway. Either she's incredibly lucky, or far better than us at cheating."

"That's karma," Delia stated with an amused grin. It was nice being with her fellow vigilantes, she once again felt invincible. The atmosphere was emphasized by the fact that they all wore masks to hide their identities. Far from thinking that they looked like burglars, Delia was certain that they looked like a band of noble super heroes.

"Is everyone ready?" Ben asked. "When I cause the main power to short circuit, we'll only have a few minutes to get to the stairs before the auxiliary power comes on. Then a few more minutes before the main power resets." The young man with light brown hair and hazel eyes tapped the small device attached to the fuse box on the wall. 

The inquiry brought everyone back to the present; they were ready to continue with their mission after having occupied themselves in talking quietly and squeezing the water out of their uniforms. Everyone nodded in agreement and voiced their eagerness to continue with the infiltration mission. 

Ben released his Magnemite from its pokeball, "alright Magnemite, give it a charge." The device attached to the fuse box directed the electricity from Magnemite to certain key points that would cause the main power to shut down interpreting a short circuit that was not truly there. Quickly recalling the pokemon back into his pokeball, Ben joined the others in a race through dark corridors. 

Giovanni had a flashlight and led the way to the stairs. The auxiliary power went on with a few faint lights, but the security cameras wouldn't reboot for a few more seconds when the auxiliary power adjusted in full. They hurried into the shaft containing the emergency stairs and closed the door behind them. The auxiliary power came on completely and bright light once again illuminated the corridors and stairs. Light had been seen from the building almost twenty four hours a day, even when the employees were supposed to have long since finished their shift. Most people assumed there were employees staying late to work on special projects or that Silph Co. had added another shift. They were all perfectly logical explanations, but most likely just a cover up.

No longer in need of the flashlight, Giovanni, Delia, Luke, Proton and Ben headed up to the eleventh floor where they theorized the Silph Co. president could still be. During the past days' investigations he seldom left the building and often stayed over night. "You know the plan," Giovanni faced the door leading out of the stairs and to the hallway of the eleventh floor. "Delia, Luke and I will go ahead; Proton and Ben will stay here and provide backup if needed and assistance in our escape if it comes to that." He checked the radios that the two smaller teams would carry. "Maintain radio silence unless there's an emergency."

Everyone accented their readiness and the next part of the mission was put into action. Luke released his Seadra from her pokeball and held her as they prepared to run to their final destination of the mission. "Just like I like told you, dudette, smoke screen, you know? Like nice and thick, but like not too long lasting, you know?" The door to the hallway was opened simultaneously with Seadra's attack and the three agents assigned to that part of the mission ran through the smoke. The other two remained behind as backup. They would be ready to create a distraction if it was needed.

The main power was reset and the failure was attributed to a need for maintenance and possible damage to the outside cables because of the bad weather. The assumption was proven false when one of the monitors in the security camera room was obscured by a black fog. The guards were unsure if it was a malfunction or not, but decided not to take any chances. Either way it was too late, Giovanni, Delia and Luke were already at the president's office by the time he got a call from security telling him about what they had seen in the monitor and asking if he was alright. Seeing the three threatening figures trapping him in his office, it was obvious for the president what he was expected to say. "I'm fine, nothing is wrong, what you saw must have been a malfunction."

"The hallway is clear," one of the guards' voice replied. By the time he arrived at the scene, the smoke screen had already dissipated.

"The faulty camera is working now too," the guard stationed at the monitor room added via their internal communications system.

"Continue at your normal posts," president Silph instructed, not taking his eyes off the three intruders. After the voice-only communication ended he stated, "I know why you're here. It's for the masterball isn't it? Well you're out of luck because the masterball is nothing but a failed prototype." For confidentiality reasons the eleventh floor was devoid of cameras, the president had always thought that having them in the halls was enough.

"What is a failure is your act," Giovanni made a mental note of that masterball just in case he might need to investigate it later. For the time being, he had something else to focus on. "I want the whole truth. I know you're working with the police and government against Team Rocket."

"I see..." the president let out a breath and leaned back on his chair. He kept his hands motionless on top of the desk where they were easily visible, so as to not provoke any violence from the masked Team Rocket invaders. Barefoot and dripping wet as they were, though at least one was dry, they all still managed to look quite threatening. "The government as well as the police have given up. Due to the discovery of the antidote and the benefits in both health, economy and other areas that it brought, the government seems to be aiming for a peaceful coexistence with Team Rocket. Perhaps they even see it as positive economical stimulation. The police was corrupted and those that were left after the clean-up seemed pleased to start anew. Despite some of them, many of them, knowing about Team Rocket, they seem all too willing to forget. They want to let this go as an act by a band of vigilantes and look at it in a positive light. If this goes on, in la few years Team Rocket's leader will be officially forgotten, his criminal record conveniently misplaced along with several others. From then on, it would be a new start."

"You seem to understand," Delia spoke for the first time since their arrival at the office. "Then why are you doing this? Everyone else is okay with Team Rocket, why do you stand against us?"

"Because too much power leads to corruption," President Silph replied in a tired voice that made him sound even older than his gray hair made him look. "I fear for the future, if a being is given power, if an organization is made different, then they will become corrupted. It's all the same principle, such power, such abilities; humans can create wonderful and terrible things that must not be left to run rampant. I'm afraid there's been a miscalculation, my allies from the government and police seemed to have slipped up and attracted unwanted attention. They were rash in wishing for glory, in wanting to take the gym leader's place as a hero. Does it matter? The way things are going, he is destined to be forgotten as a hero to become a secret villain until the day his true plans are revealed." 

"Enough!" Delia's exclamation startled president Silph into silence. "Don't speak as if you knew him, you don't know anything!" She felt as if Giovanni was being terribly insulted by the accusations. "You understand that your plans will fail, don't you? Then you should stop this."

"It's already out of my hands," president Silph admitted. "The others are too rash, as I said. I was supposed to lead them, but they don't listen to me. In the end, my plan failed before it began because I was not wise in choosing my allies. I admit defeat." The president's eyes were downcast in fear and disappointment.

"I hope you like don't like really think we'll like fall for that, you know?" It was a good thing that Mr. Silph and Luke had never met before, otherwise mask or not, he would be easily identifiable by his speech alone. It was one of the internal jokes of Team Rocket that Luke would never be allowed to write a secret threat or ransom note because he wrote as he spoke.

xoxox xox xoxox

That night, the Silph president played his cards carefully in hopes of being given another chance to prepare. Yet the hasty actions of the real police superintendent did indeed throw all their chances of success out the window when Naberrie discovered them while fishing for blackmail and similar useful information. Silph Co. was allowed and even encouraged to continue the development of the masterball. The project was monitored by Team Rocket, which led to a confrontation upon its later completion several years after that night, when Silph Co. refused to turn over the finished product to Team Rocket. 

The president's office was searched and several things, mostly confidential data, were confiscated. Among the data that was taken, there was the core coding for Porygon, which came as no surprise given that this was Silph Co. They were developing a device called an Upgrade, which would cause the human created pokemon, Porygon, to evolve into Porygon2. The development was also continued with Team Rocket overseeing the process. Ben had always liked tinkering with machines, but despite having a talent with electronics, circuitry was more so his field and not so much software. As he watched over the development of the Upgrade he realized he needed help from experts in the field, which led to the creation of a technological department in Team Rocket and the addition of software experts and hackers to the members.

Overall, the Silph Co. operation was a success. The president was secretly detained for several hours until the Rockets left the building. Their exit was rushed, yet it was not due to anything troublesome happening at Silph Co., but rather something that occurred at the Saffron City police station where the real superintendent was having a secret meeting with some police officers and government agents. Wishing to obtain a position of power in Team Rocket, Naberrie set out to solve the problem by removing its roots, the superintendent, the police officers and the government agents involved in the conspiracy against Team Rocket. The actions she took to make Giovanni believe she was his ally would inevitably lead to a confrontation.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, at the Viridian City gym, "this is Leah, reporting," Leah's soft voice was transmitted to Ariana's cell phone as she made her scheduled call. She had snuck away for a moment while Rune admired the gym's arena, going on and on about what pokemon was the proudest in the forest. She had been playing tour guide and public relations agent for him for quite some time and was bored with the task, but made no complaints.

"How are things with the mayor?" Ariana inquired. While Leah and Rune were at the Viridian Gym, Ariana, Archer and Aayla were stationed at Saffron City with a few Rocket agents, watching over Naberrie's actions. She had returned to her home city after leaving her husband in Team Rocket's custody, while her young son presumably remained at their Viridian residence under the protection of several bodyguards. Given the fact that Silph Co. was located in Saffron City, Naberrie's movement was seen as suspicious. 

"Everything is fine, there is nothing to report," Leah informed. "From what I can perceive, the mayor is a carefree person who sincerely wishes to improve Viridian City. He also seems to be eager to follow instructions. I believe it would be beneficial for Giovanni to guide him." It was a nicer way to say that Rune would make a good pawn.

"That's good news, I can't say the same about the puppet master over here," Ariana referred to Naberrie, who had clearly been controlling Rune. "She hasn't made a move yet, but we'll keep watching her. Let us know if you find out anything."

"Understood," Leah's reply was as sweet and quiet as usual, "I wish you luck." After the call had ended, Leah returned to stand beside the rambling mayor.

"Wouldn't you agree?" Rune finished his cheerful speech and looked at Leah for approval.

Realizing that he was so absorbed in his speech that he didn't even notice she had slipped away, Leah nodded. Her reaction caused Rune's smile to grow and he continued rambling something about forest pride.

xoxox xox xoxox

At Saffron City, Ariana finished her conversation with Leah and turned to look at her beloved Archer, who sat at the driver's seat of their tinted window black car. The car was parked in a shaded spot away from the street lights in front of Naberrie's residence. Archer glanced at Ariana, both bored from sitting there waiting for something to happen. Their faces became closer until their lips met, then Aayla spoke from the back seat, "I feel like a third wheel!"

The sudden statement in its tone and timing, cause Ariana to laugh unexpectedly and accidentally bite Archer's lower lip. He made a sound of protest as she had bitten him rather hard and he felt a cut starting to bleed. "Sorry about that," Ariana apologized with a wink and turned in the passenger seat to look at Aayla. "Are you wishing you had dragged Binks along so that we could make this a double date?"

"There's nothing going on with me and the stickfigure geek," Aayla defended, "he only wishes." It was something she often took advantage of, making him do her chores in the past, before they had rookies to take care of cleaning up the base and so on.

"They're on the move," Archer announced, interrupting the conversation between the two women before Ariana could further tease Aayla about her supposedly nonexistent relationship with Binks. Two cars left the long driveway of Naberrie's luxurious Saffron City home and judging by the shadows inside them, both were full with as many passengers as they could carry, though they were at the moment unidentifiable. Ordering a few Rocket agents in the premises to stay behind and guard the house, Archer drove off silently into the darkness, in secret pursuit of the cars that went out of Naberrie's property.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 105: Give me Vigor

Two cars stopped near the Saffron City police station in the middle of the night. The downpour had finally relented and only a few barely noticeable raindrops fell from the sky, easily ignored. Eight shadowy figures exited the cars and surrounded the structure, with intentions of breaking in. A third car stopped a little further away from the station and three people got out from it. Archer, Ariana and Aayla stopped a few feet away, hidden behind a near by billboard on the side of the road near the station. It was advertising some pokemon vitamins that supposedly served as preventive methods to complement the effects of the recently discovered antidote to the epidemic; if it was true or not, was questionable, but they were at least not harmful.

"It looks like she hasn't seen us yet, or pretended not to," Archer quietly stated, observing as the eight people managed to make their way inside the police station. 

"If we go in too soon, she might change her plans and betray the other side to keep up her image with us," Ariana pointed out. "We won't expose her true colors like that."

"Then we'll wait and catch her in the act," Aayla had the expression of a wild Luxray waiting to pounce. Thus the three Rockets waited for a few more minutes, until the sound of a gunshot pierced the quiet stillness of the air.

With alarmed expressions, the three hurried towards the station to see what was going on. They stayed low and close to the walls as they made their way in. Naberrie was there along with seven other armed people. They noticed the arrival of someone new when the previously illuminated interior of the police station was shrouded in darkness due to Aayla's Haunter using night shade. "Don't stop Haunter, keep them all lost in the darkness."

A few stray shots were fired and some of Naberrie's men fell. The gunshots kept being exchanged by a few police officers and some of Naberrie's guards, while several government officials cowered in fear, seeking shelter behind the desks and holding on to them for dear life, lost in the frightening illusion of the night shade. Screams of agony were heard as the injured clung to life by a thread.

With goggles that allowed him to see past the foggy black mist and beyond the illusions, Archer made his way to the one leading the troublesome operation, Naberrie. "Don't try to do anything else that's troublesome," he commanded as he led her away.

"Team Rocket," Naberrie concluded, she had caught small glimpses of some suspicious movement near her house and was expecting someone from Team Rocket to show up sooner or later. "I'm ending this, it's better for you this way."

"This action was not authorized by the boss." Archer took away Naberrie's gun, which she surprisingly relinquished without protest. 

"Stop shooting!" Ariana commanded as she sent out her Vileplume and ordered her to use, "sleep powder," as soon as Archer was close enough to the door so he would not get caught in it. The three Rockets along with Naberrie prepared to retreat and let the sleep powder do its job. After the danger of being caught by a bullet passed, they would take prisoners and sort things out. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. With the last of his strength, the real superintendent, a man in his late forties with a stern face, black eyes and thick dark gray hair, shot one last bullet, which caught Naberrie.

In a swift motion, her blue eyes full of fury, Naberrie snatched away the gun Archer had confiscated from her and returned fire. She couldn't see clearly where she was shooting though the night shade had begun to disperse and the sleep powder wasn't as thick. With a few shots in fast succession, she killed her target and a few others before collapsing. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Only a few of Naberrie's men and several government agents survived that night's massacre. Most of those involved with the government believed that the killings were an act of Team Rocket and backed off from that point on. With the conspiracy against Team Rocket stopped before it could truly begin, the police headed to a new era where Team Rocket's secrets were forgotten in favor of a peaceful coexistence. The death of the real superintendent caused Davin, who had been acting as the public superintendent, to take his place and gain the position of police superintendent for real. 

However, that night was not without serious consequences and the casualties of the police, government and Naberrie's personnel were not the only ones. Albeit Naberrie was quickly given first aid and taken to the Saffron City Hospital, where fueled by fear the doctors surrounded her immediately, she did not make it past that night. Giovanni's team was informed about the occurrences and they swiftly finished up their business at the Silph Co. building and headed to the hospital. 

The atmosphere in the hospital was extremely tense with the presence of Team Rocket, but no one dared to ask them to leave. The staff hoped that after the unwelcomed invaders received the medical services they requested they would just go away without harming anyone. Naberrie's confession as heard by Archer, Ariana and Aayla as she ignored the doctor's instructions not to speak, was, "I did plan to betray him, I only wanted to earn his trust then take it all away." She gasped in pain, feeling her life slipping away from her. "I was too rash, too eager to force my cousin to trust me. Now that I must pay the ultimate price I have but one wish. Kenobi, please don't hurt Kenobi." Those were her final words.

From that point on things did calm down and life continued. Rune and Kenobi were devastated by the loss of Naberrie and blamed the police and government for her demise. Rune vowed to help Giovanni in any way, for he believed the gym leader had the power to take over the world, thus avenging Naberrie in a way, it was a power that Rune knew he did not possess. Troublesome as he could be at times with his overly eager attitude and loose tongue, Giovanni continued to work with Rune for many years, until eventually it was Kenobi's turn to take his father's place as the new and more competent Viridian City mayor.

xoxox xox xoxox

After the whole ordeal at Saffron City had ended, Davin received an official and secret communication asking him to continue his duties as the police superintendent as he saw fit and stating the government and police's intention to not provoke the mafia. Still at Pallet Town, Davin debated if he should head back to Viridian City or maybe to the main Kanto police department at Celadon City. 

"You need a vacation." When Davin looked up from his pitiful position sitting on Samuel's Onix-hard couch holding his head in stress, he saw the image of himself staring back at him. 

That strange young man, Petrel, never ceased to amaze him or creep him out. "Don't you dare impersonate me!" During his stay at the Oak Laboratory under Petrel's surveillance, Davin had to endure watching him impersonate several people including Samuel and even Delia. Needless to say, he was furious about the latter. 

At that point in time Delia arrived at the Oak Laboratory in the company of Leah, while Giovanni, Archer and several others busied themselves at headquarters with damage control and making sure the police and government kept their offer of a peaceful coexistence. "Hide, I'll get the door," leaving no room for argument, Petrel pushed Davin away towards the kitchen. 

In the kitchen, Samuel was having a battle with a malfunctioning coffee maker. With all the stress in the air, he really needed his caffeine. As for Davin, he was an avid coffee drinker and had been swiftly consuming cup after cup ever since his arrival. Samuel thought it was difficult to deal with a coffee high Davin, but he knew from experience that his caffeine withdrawals were worse, so he didn't deny him the warm drinks. 

Still in his disguise, Petrel opened the door to find Delia. "I was so worried about you, come in, come in." Once Delia and Leah were inside, Petrel, still disguised as Davin, locked the door and exclaimed in agony, "why must you be involved with those terrible people?" Then he hugged his supposed daughter protectively. 

"It's okay, everything will be fine now," Delia paused as she realized that something was off and snatched away Petrel's wig. "Petrel, that's not funny!"

"Aw, I almost had you!" Petrel pouted. "What gave it away?"

"The scent of coffee or rather, the lack of it, dad always smells like coffee," Delia revealed. "He's okay, isn't he?"

Before Petrel could reply, Davin peeked out from the kitchen and saw Delia. He hurried to her, "Delia, do you know what kind of call I received. They think I'm with them, with the mafia! I get the impression that they want me to be a sort of mediator between the police and the mafia. You need to get out of this, get to safety!"

"Dad, it's okay!" Delia raised her voice to be heard over Davin's panic and tried to comfort him as best she could. "Petrel, it's actually a good thing you're dressed like that. Report back to base so that you can get the update on the recent happenings, Leah and I will stay here."

"Wait," Davin protested, "you actually want him to take my place?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You're stressed; you can't handle this right now. You need a vacation; it's for your own good," Delia tried to convince him.

"I told you so," Petrel commented in reference to Davin needing a vacation, then left to return to Viridian City. 

"Things are delicate right now so it's best if you allow Petrel to handle the situation in your place until everything has calmed down. Don't worry, it will all work out," Delia insisted, trying to keep her voice from becoming unsteady.

Observing his daughter's face, Davin frowned, with Samuel mimicking the worried expression while looking at Delia, now standing beside her father. "You've been crying," Davin's fury began to rise again, "that man, that terrible man from the mafia made you cry!"

"No, that's not it!" Delia shot back, angered that Giovanni was falsely accused. "Someone was hurt and I felt sad for her. I didn't know her well, I couldn't even honestly call her my friend, but I was sad for her, for her husband and for their son. Giovanni consoled me, he would never hurt me, he always protects me. Please understand, I love him and he loves me, nothing can change that."

Both Samuel and Davin could relate to Delia's words. Both men had been married at a point in time and both had lost their loves to death. "Love is precious; it is something to be cherished for all the days that one is given," Samuel voiced; he had already accepted Delia's choice.

"There's no changing your mind, is there?" Davin realized. "I don't approve of this and I probably never will, yet I have no choice but to accept it. Just please, be safe, don't take unnecessary risks. Try to remember your values, don't cause uncalled for pain and don't allow it to be caused to you."

Delia smiled to reassure the two men who were both in a way fathers to her. "Everything will be alright. We will make sure it is."

Petrel took Davin's place for some time as the police superintendent, following Giovanni's instructions to guide Kanto to an era of relative peace, in which Team Rocket could grow without interference. After he returned to work, Davin soon grew tired of it and retired off to a quiet life in which he carried his regrets alongside his inaction. Surprisingly it was the Jenny of Viridian City who took his place as the new police superintendent. She had understood that the time wasn't right to try to fight and that perhaps forgetting past struggles and starting anew was the best course of action for both sides after all. For the time being there would be peace, the choices of the future would belong only to those of the future.

xoxox xox xoxox

Those events that took place many years ago were seemingly unrelated to the current mysteries of the present day, but they did indeed have a secret connection. It was a thin thread barely visible, but it was there. In the present day, Aayla's interference with the fate of the modified Luke clone known as number ten, led Giovanni, Ash and Comet to travel to a mysterious world were souls waited to be reborn for as long as their journey in the world of the living was unfinished and their final destination unclear. It was Giovanni's second trip there, which unlocked the previously sealed memories of his first visit. Along with those memories being unleashed, the seal that Mewtwo had placed upon Giovanni's memories of him started to significantly weaken. 

After researching past data and discussing the situation with the Rocket executives, Giovanni found that the past was full of contradictions, specifically the time in which the Mewtwo project was supposedly declared a failure. With a nagging feeling of having forgotten something important, Giovanni set out to explore the ruins of New Island in hopes of solving the unknown mystery of what truly happened at the end of the Mewtwo experiments. Unknown to Giovanni, Ash not only knew what happened during the battle to recapture Mewtwo, but had also recovered his memories of the first time he met the clone pokemon at New Island.

After discovering some files containing images of Ash and other trainers that had journeyed to New Island by Mewtwo's invitation in the past, it became obvious that Ash had a vital piece of information concerning Mewtwo. With Giovanni's memories becoming clearer, Mewtwo would not be held in mystery anymore. Unexpectedly, the computer equipment where the files recovered from the New Island ruins were being viewed short circuited. While Giovanni focused on Mewtwo, the incident attributed to an unknown hacker and the possible consequences it hinted of, was left in the hands of the executives, Archer, Ariana, Proton and Petrel. At the same time, Aayla seemed to know more than she was telling and Binks' health, albeit improved, still showed signs of fragility.

Amidst the commotion, Ash received communication from Gary, urging him to go to Pallet Town. It was clear that Gary knew something about Team Rocket and wanted to clarify his information with Ash, no longer able to ignore what was in front of him. Hoping that Gary could wait in silence for a little longer, Ash made a deal with Giovanni. They would battle and the outcome of their battle would decide if Ash revealed the truth about Mewtwo or not. While Delia watched from the window of Giovanni's mansion near Victory Road, Ash and Giovanni ventured into the wilderness behind it for a suitable space to battle. 

Standing apart the approximate distance of an average pokemon battle arena, Ash and Giovanni faced each other. The looks in their eyes seemed to say it all, as they spoke no more words before the battle began. Glalie and Golem each materialized from the red beams of their respective pokeballs in front of their trainers. Ever the trickster, Glalie considered freezing Ash with his ice beam, but stopped when he saw the look in his trainer's eyes. That serious look was something Glalie had never seen in his trainer before, even when an important battle was approaching. "Be careful Glalie, this won't be easy, ice beam!"

As the opening move went into effect, Giovanni reacted with a counter attack and ordered Golem to use "double edge!" The rock pokemon barreled forward hastily, with beams of ice narrowly missing him until he was reached by the cold attack. Several of the stone shapes that enclosed Golem's body were covered in ice as if the pokemon was encased in glass. The attack slowed Golem, but didn't stop him from approaching Glalie.

Glalie floated backwards in an attempt to dodge the rampaging Golem, quickly heeding Ash's command of "ice fang!" Aiming for the Golem's exposed limbs, Glalie bit into the rock pokemon's arm as hard as he could.

Golem growled in pain, unable to dodge the attack on time due to being slowed down by the chunks of ice that uncomfortably clung to his stone body. The solution to his predicament came in his trainer's next order, "earthquake!"

With Glalie still attached to his right arm, Golem focused to make the ground shake. Since Glalie was floating, the attack wouldn't hit him directly, but the shaking transmitted through Golem was enough to accomplish the move's purpose of making Glalie's ice fang lose its grip on Golem's arm. 

From the mansion's window, Delia felt the earthquake, though the seismic proof structure remained solid and undamaged. As the terrain shifted, a few trees became inclined to the sides and some smaller ones fell. This allowed a slightly clearer view of the battle, albeit Delia's sight was still considerably obstructed by the vegetation. Most of all, it showed how intense the fight was right from the start.

The battle continued with a rapid succession of attacks, "use rock slide!" As soon as Golem was free from Glalie's ice fang, the pokemon was given new instructions, which would make use of the terrain to his advantage. The ground became filled with uneven creases as the land responded to the pokemon's power. 

"Glalie, use blizzard, make it as strong as you can!" Ash tried to stop Golem from using the land in his attacks by covering it in snow and ice.

The move caused Giovanni to shift his strategy lightly and continue with "rock climb!" Chasing Glalie towards the rockier area at the edge of the cluster of trees, Golem once again went on the offensive. He had used a lot of energy, giving each attack everything he had and taking some damage along the way, but refused to give up, throwing frozen stones and trying to get Glalie down for a direct hit. 

Seeing his pokemon in peril, Ash countered by calling for another attack and trying to encourage Glalie. "Don't give up Glalie, freeze Golem with hail!" A multitude of ice pebbles collided with Golem causing visible pain and discomfort. Golem was additionally having trouble moving on the ice field that had invaded their battle arena. However, the massive amount of energy Glalie put into freezing the land took its toll as the pokemon began to loose altitude while continuously using hail. At last Glalie's energy reached its limit as Golem slammed into him taking the opportunity to knock him out. Ash recalled the ice pokemon back into his pokeball, "it's okay Glalie, you fought well." Golem was very strong, but Ash had a good idea about what pokemon to send out against him. More focused on the battle, Ash was no longer as silent as in the beginning, albeit he was still on edge. "Serperior, I choose you!" The long and elegant grass pokemon emerged from the red beam of her pokeball with a proud look on her face. 

Seeing that the ice on the ground was impairing Golem's movement, Giovanni tried to break it apart before it could be used against him. "Another earthquake, Golem!"

The state in which the terrain was left in from the previous battle gave Ash an idea, which he quickly put into play. "Serperior, get away from Golem and use solar beam!" It sounded as if Ash was guiding his pokemon to keep herself as safe as possible from the damage of the opposing attack, though in truth the defense's purpose was more so to improve offense. As Serperior charged her solar beam, her eyes met Ash's and with a discreet glance down, she understood and released her solar beam low close to the ground in the path of several chunks of ice left over from the previous round.

Realizing what was happening, Giovanni tried to warn his pokemon, "Golem, get out of the way!" Yet it was too late. Serperior's solar beam melted the ice creating a miniature river that driven by the aftershock of the rapid melting, collided with Golem in an odd water gun simulation. 

Golem growled in pain at the unexpected blast of water and before he could recover, Ash chose the move that would end the round, "grass knot!" Acting swiftly, Serperior trapped Golem in a sort of grassy net, which caused him to trip and flail helplessly taking heavy damage. 

Sure of her victory, Serperior grinned proudly, while Golem was left unconscious. Giovanni recalled Golem into his pokeball, but did not look surprised or angry. It was more as if he expected the battle to be close and knew that sooner or later Ash would catch up. Eyeing the proud Serperior, Giovanni provided her with a challenging opponent, "Machamp, fight with all your strength!" The fighting pokemon flexed his large muscles eager to battle. By then the left over ice from Glalie had melted into the disturbed terrain. "Giga impact!"

As Machamp went on the attack, Ash was quick to counter with, "leaf storm!" Serperior let out a massive tempest of leaves that swirled around her opponent, creating abundant cuts as they went and slowing his approach. Though Machamp continued forward despite the attack, his own attack had little effect after losing momentum. Taking the opportunity, Ash tried to finish the round, "energy ball!"

Urging his pokemon to act quickly, Giovanni countered the move, "focus blast, don't stop!" Machamp let out a rapid succession of blasts, the first colliding with Serperior's energy ball, causing an explosion that damaged both pokemon. The spheres of energy kept being exchanged between the two pokemon until they closed the distance between each other and the attacks resulted impractical.

"Use grass knot again!" Seeing the close proximity that Machamp had to Serperior, Ash hoped that the previous strategy would once again prove fruitful.

However, Machamp was too strong to be contained, which allowed Giovanni to take advantage of the situation, "finish her with cross chop!" 

The repeated harsh hits collided with Serperior with such a speed and force that she could not dodge or block them. As a result, the impacts rendered her unable to battle. "Serperior!" Beaten, the grass pokemon twitched a little, but was ultimately not capable of getting into a battle stance before her head fell as she lost her grip on reality and fainted. "Good job Serperior, come rest." After recalling Serperior into her pokeball, Ash looked at Machamp and thought of a suitable opponent for him. It was a pokemon that had been training for a long time, though not always with Ash. When he did return to Ash, they found a connection again and were able to train together once more with matching unbreakable spirits. "Primeape, I choose you!"

Machamp was injured from the previous round, but could still battle and was quick to follow Giovanni's order, "another cross chop!" Before Ash could even issue the first command for Primeape, the rowdy pokemon used thrash, something that he often did when he was excited for a fight. The two colliding attacks resulted in damage to both fighting pokemon, who stumbled backwards from the force of the impact. 

Seeing the determination in Primeape, Ash called forth a move that would push both pokemon to show their true power and skill in fighting. Surprisingly, his voice rang out at the same time as Giovanni's in a simultaneous decision to determine the battle with "close combat!"

While Primeape and Machamp exchanged blows in a massive display of strength, the two opposing trainers looked beyond the pair of fighters at each other. Perhaps it was their coincidental commands that made them react in such a way, unconsciously looking for similarities one in the other. Both had racing thoughts and for a moment there was nothing in the world but each other and that determined look into each other's eyes that spoke of an unbreakable thirst for victory, yet also something more, to comprehend the other. 

Once again focused on the fight, they watched as the close combat continued with punches and kicks. Though Machamp had four arms, Primeape didn't let that fact bother him and exchanged blows on equal ground with Machamp, making good use of angles, momentum and speed to make up for having only a pair of arms to work with. The cuts left behind by Serperior had not sealed and they could not, given the solid hits Primeape was landing. With a final colossal kick Primeape knocked out his opponent, sending the heavily muscled pokemon to crash into a tree. With the ground weakened from the previous attacks, the tree's roots were loose, causing it to fall with the force of Machamp's impact.

As the tree fell, Delia caught a better look at the battle from the mansion's window. She saw as a red beam consumed Machamp as he was returned to his pokeball, while Primeape stood triumphant. The battle was very close so far, Ash and Giovanni were both on their third pokemon and it looked like it would be an all out six on six fight. At that point in time, it could go either way.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. When Naberrie mentions Rune being a merchant, she is referring to him managing a small business that transported cargo, which later evolved into Antilles Oceanus. The mention of Calrissian Cargo still being ahead in the market refers to this flashback taking place between the first and second portion of the main flashback, since Calrissian Cargo met its end after the S.S. Lapras incident. This story is based mostly on the anime, albeit creative license is used in some parts. I also included a few references to the mangas, novels and games, such as Silph Co. and the masterball.


	32. Part 32

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 106: Give me Might

The six on six pokemon battle between Ash and Giovanni continued with both in command of their third pokemon. To battle against Ash's Primeape, Giovanni sent out Rhyperior. Seeing Primeape eager to charge forward, Giovanni called forth another earthquake to slow him down, followed by an attack of "mega horn!" Rhyperior dashed forward trying to stab Primeape with her horn.

The collision between the two pokemon was inevitable and thus dodging alone would be ineffective. "Quick Primeape, use focus punch!" Primeape reacted rapidly and his fist collided with the side of Rhyperior's face, but his opponent was no where near defeated. 

Without pausing, Rhyperior retaliated with her horn. Primeape tried to protect himself, which resulted in the horn being stabbed painfully into his right paw. Freeing herself from the perforated appendage, Rhyperior continued the relentless mega horn attack, while Primeape used thrash, his reaction to most intense emotions, be it excitement or pain.

"Primeape, you have to concentrate, don't lose your cool, use brick break!" Ash watched his pokemon intensely, wondering if he should be recalled, he didn't want any permanent damage to come to him. Yet Primeape didn't look like he would go back into his pokeball even if Ash tried to call him back. The fighting pokemon was still immersed in the heat of battle, with no intensions of stopping the fight. Using his left hand instead, Primeape unleashed a powerful brick break attack, succeeding it with two more brick break attacks with the use of kicks.

Rhyperior shielded herself, the impact being mostly absorbed by her armored body, though she still felt the aftershock in significant discomfort. "Rhyperior, use hammer arm!" Following her trainer's order, Rhyperior performed a series of rapid hits hammering away at Primeape with her heavy arms. Primeape made a valiant effort, pushing Rhyperior to the limit with his own flurry of hits. With one last solid hammer arm attack, Primeape stumbled backwards unsteadily and fell to the ground knocked out.

"That was a great fight, return Primeape!" Ash finally called Primeape back into his pokeball. Rhyperior tried not to show it, but Ash could tell the fight did tire her out, though she would still be a dangerous opponent for which a different strategy would be required. "Staraptor, I choose you!" While Rhyperior had a tough armor, it might not be so easy to fight against a speedy flying opponent. "Use aerial ace!"

Staraptor began his attack, flying towards Rhyperior and trying to get a solid hit that would affect her despite her armored body. "Rhyperior, hit him with hammer arm!" Though the attack was powerful, the move turned out to be ineffective, as Staraptor quickly dodged all the hits.

"Staraptor, use steel wing!" Staraptor levitated in mid air flapping his wings strongly. His feathers turned metallic as they were launched like razors from his wings. 

Rhyperior defended against the attack, but she could seemingly do little else than that, since Staraptor remained out of reach. Giovanni had a different strategy to try. If Staraptor didn't come down, Rhyperior would just have to knock him out of the sky. "Attack with rock wrecker!" The landscape at the edge of the forest-like area near the mountain was full of loose boulders that would make excellent projectiles to be thrown. Rhyperior hurried to pick one up and threw it at Staraptor like a cannon ball.

"Be careful Staraptor!" Ash urged his pokemon to watch out. Staraptor was dodging, but it didn't seem like Rhyperior would get tired of throwing boulders any time soon. Besides, a pokemon battle could not be won by dodging alone. "Use brave bird!" 

Staraptor dove past the most recently thrown boulder, narrowly dodging it. He courageously collided with Rhyperior, just as Giovanni called out for a last minute, "mega horn attack!" Staraptor was able to get back in the air, only losing a few feathers in the encounter. 

It looked like Rhyperior could no longer hide her fatigue. She was irritated, which might make her lose her concentration. The observation gave Ash an idea, "Staraptor, use uproar!"

The loud attack was most uncomfortable even for the trainers. Wanting to make Staraptor shut up just as badly as Rhyperior did, Giovanni called forth his only option to reach Staraptor in the air, "Rhyperior, keep using rock wrecker!"

Rhyperior gladly obeyed with her temper flaring. She tossed one boulder after another at Staraptor until she had to stop to catch her breath, nearly collapsing from exhaustion. "Now Staraptor, use steel wing and brave bird!" 

Staraptor's metallic feathers collided with Rhyperior once more, their effect improved due to her defenses being lowered by exhaustion. "Rhyperior, use hammer arm!" Just as Staraptor dove in for the finishing blow, Rhyperior swung her heavy arm at the flying pokemon, but she missed and the momentum worked against her as Staraptor's attack collided with her directly. Due to the strong momentum and aftershock, Rhyperior spun around as she was pushed into unconsciousness. Her tail collided with Staraptor as she collapsed, though the hit was not particularly hard since it was driven by momentum without the contribution of willing muscle, it was just enough to make Staraptor stagger in his ascent. 

Rhyperior's tail went down on Staraptor's tail feathers as the unconscious foe pulled her opponent into an uncomfortable sitting position on the ground with his tail feathers trapped under her heavy tail. Staraptor complained and pecked at Rhyperior's tail, trying to pull his tail feathers loose from their entrapment. Ash stared at the scene, his face twitching slightly to withhold the upcoming laughter. At last he could no longer hold it in and burst out in a fit of laughter, which Staraptor loudly protested to. "I'm sorry Staraptor," Ash managed to cease control of his expression, albeit still laughing a little. "You did great, don't worry, you'll be free in a moment." He glanced at Giovanni, waiting for him to recall Rhyperior into her pokeball.

Giovanni didn't move, "maybe I should leave that loud mouth pokemon trapped like that." His ears were still ringing from the uproar attack.

Ash pouted, further becoming caught up in the enjoyment of the pokemon battle and momentarily forgetting the reason for which it started. "That's not fair; you should call Rhyperior back to rest." Annoyed at his entrapment, Staraptor accentuated Ash's request with his own loud complaints in the shape of another uproar.

"Alright, fine, I'll call Rhyperior back if it'll make Staraptor shut up," Giovanni finally recalled Rhyperior into her pokeball, thus freeing Staraptor's tail feathers. The bird pokemon seemed to let out an undignified huff before returning to flying a few feet above the ground waiting for his next opponent. Giovanni released his next pokemon into battle, it was one of his newer ones, "Flygon, knock out that annoying bird, sand storm!" With the rapid flapping of his wings Flygon brought forth a massive sand storm from the land. 

In a matter of seconds the visibility of the battle was lost. Ash coughed and covered his mouth and nose as best he could, his eyes now closed. "And you thought uproar was annoying? Staraptor, try using steel wing!" Staraptor obeyed, but the metallic feathers were lost in the storm becoming as normal feathers once more and being carried harmlessly by the wind.

"Hyper beam!" At Giovanni's order, Flygon let out a powerful beam of energy at his target.

"Be careful Staraptor, don't stop moving, use aerial ace!" The attack might, and probably would, miss Flygon, but it's purpose was to provide some defense for Staraptor by the constant movement that would hopefully allow him to dodge Flygon's attack despite the lack of visibility in the midst of the sand storm that Flygon continuously maintained between hyper beam attacks. With the sand storm making movement difficult, it was only a matter of time until Flygon's attack was effective in knocking out the target.

Staraptor's pained voice was heard and Flygon's sand storm relented to reveal the fainted opponent covered in sand on the ground. It was going to take some time and effort to get all that sand out of his feathers. "Staraptor return, that was a brave effort, well done." Both Ash and Giovanni had sand sticking to them, adding much more to the bits of dirt that had reached them before. Flygon was clearly very strong and Ash knew he needed one of his strongest pokemon to take him out. Saving Pikachu for the final round, Ash sent out another of his closest friends, "Charizard, I choose you!" With a mighty roar, the powerful fire pokemon emerged from the red beam of his pokeball.

"Flygon, use sand storm again!" The new round started off with a repetition of the previously effective strategy.

"Charizard, break through the storm with fire blast and charge in with air slash!" Ash was counting on his pokemon's skill and power to be able to overcome the obstacle that was before him. The strategy resulted effective as Charizard's powerful fire blast dissipated the sand leaving sparks to rain with some vegetation catching on fire, though it was ignored by the combatants. Charizard rapidly charged through the falling sparks slashing at Flygon in mid air.

Seeing as the battle would inevitably turn into a close combat, Giovanni countered the new turn of events. "Flygon, use dragon claw!" The two mighty pokemon continued slashing at each other with their claws in a massive display of power. They growled and batted their wings as they relentlessly searched for an opening to attack, one's claws often colliding with the other's.

Despite the close distance of the two pokemon, both trainers took a chance and called out for their next attack, "fire blast!" It once again turned out to be coincidentally the same, their voices echoing as one to be silenced by the loud roars of the two warring pokemon. The opposing blasts of fire collided between the two beasts, pushing them back with the force of the scorching energy. They pushed forward as they continued to breathe fire, with flames falling in every direction, spreading a growing fire among the vegetation.

Unwilling to wait for the two pokemon to exhaust themselves, Ash tried to think of a strategy that could work. At times a strong and fast offense was what was needed to tilt the battle in his favor and this was perhaps no exception, he had to bravely charge in. "Charizard, use flare blitz!" Allowing the fire to surround him, Charizard went on an unstoppable rampage landing one hit after another. 

"Get out of the way Flygon, use dragon claw, then hyper beam!" Flygon tried to defend himself with dragon claw, but it was not sufficient to buy him enough time to back away and fire a hyper beam. Charizard didn't relent for a second until Flygon had been knocked out. "This battle is slowly coming to a close." Giovanni recalled his unconscious pokemon into his pokeball and eagerly sent out the next opponent, Garchomp.

"Intermission! Take a break while I fix the battle field." Delia arrived at the scene by surprise, having left her position watching from the window. Persian and Purry, who had been at the Viridian Rocket base, had been brought over to the mansion minutes before and curiously joined Delia at the window. They did not stay there for long, as she noticed the flames were growing dangerously. The mansion staff feared Giovanni's disapproval if they activated the security system to take action, rather than just to protect the structure. The Rocket boss would not be pleased if he ended up drenched in abundant water and more so if the process of putting out the fire that consumed the trees behind the mansion interfered with his battle. 

Thus Delia resolved to take matters into her own hands and was followed by the two Persian. "Cloyster, Kingler, put out the flames with water gun!" The pair of water pokemon hastily jumped into action, giving it their all to drown out the fire that consumed the trees in the area behind the mansion. At least they didn't need to worry too much about it spreading in all directions since there was little to burn on the side which led to the rocky terrain at the edge of the forest area. "Honestly, if I leave you two unsupervised you'll burn the world into nothingness and not even realize it until after the battle is over."

Giovanni took a moment to examine his surroundings while Ash voiced an automatic and rather carefree sounding, "sorry about that," which clearly disregarded the danger as if it were not at all present.

The mansion wasn't very hidden anymore, but it didn't really matter to Giovanni. "It's alright, the fire hasn't spread too far and this area is better off without so many obstacles in the way, it can be a place to train and battle."

Ash took the opportunity to further reassure his mother, "yes, exactly, now it's better than before!" He looked at the battered land and smiled sheepishly, "if seen from a certain perspective." A lone frail tree was the only one in the immediate area that survived.

Delia let out a breath as Cloyster and Kingler finished getting the flames under control. "Thank you, you two have really saved the day." She gently caressed both pokemon in appreciation for their efforts before recalling them into their respective pokeballs. "Now that it's safe again, you can continue your battle. Don't even try to tell me to go back to the mansion because I'm not going back inside. I'll watch from a safe distance." Knowing that Ash and Giovanni understood that she would not change her mind, Delia ran off to give the battle some space. From her new distance, she could not only perceive the battle itself, but also get a better image of the atmosphere between the two trainers and their expressions. As the fight entered its last few rounds, the tension had lessened considerably, even if an urgent uncertainty hung in the air in relation to what the battle's outcome may bring.

Once Delia was at a safe distance, the battle continued with Giovanni commanding the opening move of the round, "Garchomp, dragon rush!" Making good use of his speed, Garchomp hurried to tackle Charizard, clearly eager for a fight.

Charizard was knocked back, fighting to keep his balance and withstand the powerful attack. "Use fire fang!" Ash quickly reacted, taking advantage of the close proximity of Garchomp to have Charizard take hold of him between his flaming fangs.

"Poison jab!" Garchomp defended himself fiercely against the pokemon whose scorching fangs pressed against his throat. He jabbed at Charizard repeatedly until he was released from the fiery bite. 

Badly poisoned, Charizard was pushed back in anger. Ash knew that he couldn't wait before making another move and quickly directed Charizard, "fire blast!" Pushing himself to react quickly, Charizard unleashed a powerful flame.

Garchomp backed away and to the side trying to dodge, but despite his speed, the fire blast had been sent out at too much of a close range to be avoided. "Garchomp, use stone edge!" Despite his burns, Garchomp struggled to fight back, digging into the ground with his sharp fin-like appendages and throwing a rain of stones at his opponent.

The heated battle left no room for a pause, Ash responded rapidly, calling out for "fire blitz!" Against the avalanche of sharp rocks, Charizard allow the fire to cover him once more in a multitude of agile hits, making his way through the curtain of stones and towards his rival. "Don't stop, Charizard!"

"Garchomp, use dragon rush!" This was the second to last round and Giovanni knew the advantage could be obtained at any moment. The close combat continued with both pokemon fighting on the same level for the most part. However, Charizard's poisoned state kept worsening and it was taking its toll. In the midst of an intense exchange of fire blitz and dragon rush, Charizard finally fainted, leaving a dizzy Garchomp struggling to stay on his feet.

"Good job Charizard, come back and rest," Ash recalled his fallen pokemon and wasted no time in sending out his final ally. "Go Pikachu, let's finish this!"

Despite not being evolved, Giovanni knew that Ash's Pikachu was very powerful as he witnessed at the Viridian Stadium. "Garchomp, body slam!" The larger pokemon dashed forward threatening to flatten the smaller one.

"Pikachu, use thunder!" Before Garchomp could reach him, Pikachu unleashed his massive attack putting extra energy into it. This caused the already dizzy Garchomp to stumble in place and fall backwards with a loud thud.

This was the moment of truth; each combatant was down to his final pokemon. Before Giovanni could even say anything more, Persian rushed forward intent on fighting despite Purry's protests, or perhaps to annoy her. "Persian?" He had been acting oddly as of late, perhaps that female Persian's wild behavior was rubbing off on him. In spite of the fine ruby upon her forehead, she would be a bit difficult to properly train. 

"I knew it," Ash exclaimed with excitement in his eyes. "I knew it would come down to this, my main pokemon versus your main pokemon." Caught up in the excitement of the battle, Ash was all too eager to begin the final round. "Pikachu, use volt tackle!"

'Are you just going to stand there? Go tear him apart! Fight like I would!' Purry paced around Giovanni in the sidelines, tempted to jump into the battle even if it was not her fight.

'Shut up!' Persian growled back in pokemon language, he found that he often bickered with Purry, but also couldn't simply ignore her when she ignited his competitive spirit. 

The fight had already begun before Giovanni could even begin to voice that Persian was more so a show pokemon than anything else. None the less, he had witnessed many battles and knew how to fight, despite mostly sitting in the sidelines the majority of the time. Furthermore, there was simply no stopping the action that had started, plus Giovanni too was caught up in the battle and Persian's determination to fight was clear. "Use iron tail!" 

Persian spun to bat Pikachu away with his tail, but was unable to get out of the way before the volt tackle reached him. The electric pokemon tripped over Persian's glowing tail, which caused both to roll several feet back in a tangled heap. That of course, didn't stop or even slow down the battle as Ash followed up with "thunder!" an attack that hit Persian hard.

"Use night slash, Persian!" Shaking away the dizziness, while his fur was still full of static, Persian went on the offensive with a series of repetitions of his night slash attack. 

Ash knew he had to counter immediately, but Persian wouldn't let Pikachu get away from the rapidly succeeding slashes. "Fight back with wild charge!" Tackling right away under such a relentless attack would be close to impossible, but being covered in electricity would solve that problem. Attacking became more difficult for Persian as Pikachu was shielded by his own electricity; it was painful to further slash at him. Taking the opportunity to fight back, Pikachu tackled Persian. 

"Get up Persian, retaliate!" Twitching from the electric shock, Persian stubbornly pushed himself to fight back, finding that perhaps battling wasn't so bad after all. He didn't like getting all messy, but he did like the rush of excitement that came with battle and thought that maybe he should do this more often. With such thoughts in mind, he fought back with everything he had.

"Be careful Pikachu!" Pikachu backed away trying to avoid Persian's attack. To fight close range with him would be risky, even if it might speed up the progress of the battle. "Use electro ball!" Gathering his electricity, Pikachu formed it into a sphere, which he threw at Persian. Ash correctly guessed that Persian would dodge the first one, but that could be changed if there were too many attacks to be dodged. "Keep going Pikachu, use electro ball again!" Following Ash's strategy, Pikachu continued throwing electro balls at Persian one after another as fast as he could.

At their current distance, Persian seemed to be at a disadvantage, "charge in and use night slash!" Giovanni knew he had to get close to effectively attack. Through the multitude of electro balls that filled the battle ground, Persian used his agility to dodge them and approach Pikachu. Close to the electric pokemon, an electro ball hit him and knocked him to the ground. He painfully pushed himself to get up and slash at Pikachu whose automatic response was to shock Persian without having to wait for Ash's instruction to do so. "Use last resort!" Giovanni urged Persian to react, which he did, standing on the power of stubbornness alone as most of his energy had been surrendered to the intense battle. 

With Persian lashing out at him without rest, Pikachu resorted to releasing all his electricity as Ash called out "thunder!" The massive electric wave filled the area, shocking the opposing pokemon as well as the trainers. Bright light invaded the atmosphere and a line of yellow lightning took to the skies as if being drawn to the clouds above. When the light finally cleared, Persian was no longer moving, his consciousness lost to exhaustion. Pikachu followed a split second later, his energy having been drained away as it was released into the atmosphere. "Pikachu!" Ash called out to his favorite pokemon, but he did not respond. "It's... over..."

Recovering from the sparks of electricity that reached her, Delia took a deep breath and approached the battle ground where each trainer was walking towards the center of it where their respective pokemon lay. They each checked over their pokemon along with a concerned Delia who expressed, "both your teams will need a good rest to recover, but I'm sure they'll be fine."

Once again the two trainer's eyes met, their battle having ended, but before any words could be spoken, a loud noise made their heads turn to where a lone surviving tree stood. In excitement, anger or perhaps just battle-lust, Purry abused the poor tree into falling to the ground with a horn attack. She then made her way to where the group was and hissed as if wanting to pick a fight. "This one will really take a long time to train." Giovanni finally voiced. "The battle is over; I'll call you out to fight next time."

At hearing that, Persian's ears twitched in semi-alertness as he unsteadily got on his feet. Pikachu had since been picked up by Ash and awoke in his arms. Persian spoke something in pokemon language, to which Purry replied and an argument ensued which other than them, only Pikachu could understand. 

Delia laughed, feeling as if the atmosphere had been significantly lightened by the battle. "Aw, those two make such a cute bickering couple." At her comment, both the male and female Persian turned red and hissed, which only cause Delia to laugh more. 

For a blissful moment all seemed to be alright, but as the excitement of the battle faded into memories, the inevitable moment arrived. "About Mewtwo..." Giovanni began, pausing after bringing up the subject that was the cause of the battle in the first place.

Ash nodded, as if the uncertainty in the air, albeit still once more perceptible, no longer afflicted him. "I'll tell you about him."

"You don't have to," time seemed to stand still for a moment as Giovanni himself could hardly believe what he was saying. "Pikachu stayed awake for a second longer then Persian." None the less, despite the close loss, Giovanni somehow found that he did appreciate Persian's effort. "This battle is your victory; we'll battle again some time later. For now, you can go do what you wish, I won't give up on my goals, but I won't expect you to give me any information or stand aside."

Ash paused, taking in all that was said, "I still want to tell you, if not about Mewtwo, then more so about my adventure with him." It was something that would not reveal anything particularly useful towards the quest to find Mewtwo, but Ash felt that he wanted to tell the tale of those happenings either way. "Will you listen to my story?"

Giovanni couldn't hide his interest, though without realizing it, this was something more than just about Mewtwo. He wanted to know what Ash had done, "I will."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 107: Give me Potential

Ash's story about his adventures with Mewtwo, detailed the feelings and conclusions he reached during that time. He told his father about all he could remember from New Island and even about the battle to recapture Mewtwo where they had both been present. Brock's Onix emerging from his pokeball just as Giovanni approached, had served as a coincidental obstacle for Giovanni and Ash not to see each other. It was a narration that Delia had heard before, but left her in deep thought every time she focused on it. 

By then, both Ash and Giovanni had cleaned off the sand that once covered them and they, accompanied by Delia, talked in one of the mansion's many sitting rooms. The two Persian were also still at the mansion, with the male soaking in a bubble bath with some fancy shampoo that was perfect for his fur, while the female paced around red faced, looking for a way to spy on him in which she wouldn't get caught.

"What I'm trying to say is that Mewtwo is a living being, he thinks and feels, he's not just an experiment or a tool," Ash finished his revelations, emphasizing the vital conclusion.

Giovanni paused and closed his eyes for a moment, embracing his son's words with an open mind. "Even if I accept that, it doesn't change anything. Team Rocket has used many over time and for the sake of the ultimate goal it will continue to be done."

"That's... wrong..." Ash wasn't sure how to explain it, he was empathic, connecting with others easily as his mother did. Giovanni didn't seem to be like that at all, yet the memories of the feelings and images from that mysterious Persian filled Ash's mind once more. The world wasn't black and white; it was a mix of shades of gray, he recalled. One could care about many or few, yet that did not mean that the appreciation was any less true. There were no true heroes or villains, but people who had their own choices to make, which may not always fit together in perfect harmony with the expectations of those around them.

"Ash, I'm the leader of Team Rocket, a criminal organization with the goal of controlling the world," Giovanni spoke sincerely, his eyes locked on Ash's. "We're not a band of vigilantes or simple trouble makers. What you've seen so far is only the surface. Even if we have stopped other threats from invading Kanto and other regions, it is in protection of our own territory, our own power, not to serve as heroes. You need to understand that reality isn't always how you wish it were." After a short pause he added quietly, "sorry to disappoint you," sounding as if he really meant it.

"I see," Ash took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. "What will you do if you take over the world? Will it not be your world to protect? Be it for territory or power, won't you protect it?"

"Don't try to twist things around to sound better, I'm not asking you to justify me," Giovanni voiced in all seriousness.

Ash nodded, "I understand," he stood and prepared to leave. Delia, who had been quiet the entire time, stood as well and stopped as if trying to say something. Ash smiled reassuringly, "everyone has to follow their own path and reach out for what they believe in, you taught me that, it's good advice. Stay here, please keep father company, I'll see you later."

"Be safe," Delia finally voiced, holding back tears. She allowed herself to fall back into a sitting position as Ash approached one of the balconies situated on the back side of the mansion, facing towards the recently rearranged terrain as a result of the battle. He released his Charizard, who had since received healing items along with his other pokemon. "I know you must still want to rest, but can you make it to Pallet Town?" Charizard nodded and allowed Ash to climb on his back.

A few seconds passed in silence and Giovanni approached the balcony, standing there for a second looking into the distance until the feeling of being watched caused him to look up. There was Ash on his Charizard, perched on the edge of the roof, as if taking a moment to organize his thoughts before heading to Pallet Town. The fire pokemon jumped off the roof, gliding next to the balcony, "just one more thing... do you... really..." Ash stopped himself and shook his head, "never mind." He knew the answer, he had sense that answer, he accomplished nothing by doubting it.

"You're welcome to join me if you change your mind," Giovanni finally offered, his offer serving as an answer to Ash's unfinished question.

"No, but thank you for offering," with those final words of an indefinite farewell, Ash flew off on Charizard into the distance in direction towards Pallet Town.

xoxox xox xoxox

Sometime later, Ash made it to Pallet Town and landed at the Oak research lab. At the time, Gary was outside examining some pokemon and taking notes. He set his electronic clipboard aside and approached Ash, searching his face for any signs of something unknown. 

"Hey, how are you doing?" Ash greeted Gary in a completely casual way, though Gary could still tell there was something on his mind.

The young researcher crossed his arms and donned a serious expression. "I'm not letting you go without an explanation," he warned. I know there's something secret going on, those visitors from Team Rocket, your mother being kidnapped, you calling to say she was alright and hanging up soon after. You've been busy and I know Team Rocket is involved. I think grandpa knows something too but he won't tell me. I don't want to think you're actually with Team Rocket and your mother is suffering the consequences of that, because I know it's not like you. Ash, I've known you for my whole life and I always thought you were predictable outside of battle, for once you proved me wrong."

Sighing in exhaustion, realizing just how tired he really was, Ash could do little more than apologize, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Gary shouted in exasperation.

Samuel had overheard the argument and emerged from the laboratory to meet the two young men outside. "Ash, you seem tired, come inside, have something to eat and rest. I'm sure you'll be able to talk with us better once you've had a moment to collect your thoughts."

Frowning in disapproval, as he was tired of waiting, Gary said nothing and just followed the other two inside the house listening as Ash inquired about his pokemon and went to switch his current team.

A few refreshments later, Ash seemed to be just as quiet and distracted as before. Gary was done waiting and instead chose to resolve the matter in a way they were both familiar with, a pokemon battle.

Ash and Gary once again headed outside, with Samuel standing at a safe distance to watch the fight. The two young men were at the same place where Ash and Giovanni had fallen asleep because of Jigglypuff, thus causing them to postpone their battle. Though they did eventually battle, the circumstances were quite different. Forcing himself to focus on the present, Ash vaguely caught Gary declaring this a two on two double battle, which meant both pokemon would be sent out simultaneously. 

Both trainers released their pokemon, who materialized from the red beams of their pokeballs. The battle would be Ash's Infernape and Crawdaunt versus Gary's Scizor and Electivire. Eager to get some answers, Gary made the opening move of the battle, "Scizor metal claw, Electivire thunder punch!"

With the two opposing pokemon rushing towards his on the attack, Ash quickly reacted with evasive maneuvers, "Infernape dig, Crawdaunt use bubble beam!" While Infernape disappeared below ground, Crawdaunt unleashed a powerful stream of bubbles that obstructed the path of the two opponents, slowing them down. Electivire wasn't held up for long, recovering first and continuing the attack on Crawdaunt. Just as the thunder punch was about to reach him, Infernape emerged from the ground on a surprise attack to Electivire. Scizor had followed his ally to attack Crawdaunt, while Infernape remained out of reach and was taken by surprise, thus creating an opening for Crawdaunt, which Ash took advantage of, "Crawdaunt, vice-grip on Scizor!"

Gary reacted quickly, calling out to Scizor, "Scizor, use metal claw again!" This caused the two clawed pokemon to become locked in a sort of arm wrestling match, so focused on each other that they were open for attacks from the opponent's team. However, Electivire and Infernape were also busy fighting each other, "Electivire, rolling kick!"

"Infernape, blaze kick!" As the two powerful kicks collided, ash glanced at the other part of the battle simultaneously taking place, in search of an opportunity. "Crawdaunt, use crunch!" Crawdaunt's grip on Scizor's claws tightened and he momentarily gained the advantage in their competition. 

"Scizor, use iron head!" With his claws still wrestling Crawdaunt's, Scizor used his head to defend himself against the other pokemon, banging it against Crawdaunt's claw, which dissipated his recently acquired advantage. It looked like Crawdaunt and Scizor would take a while longer to show a clear advantage, but Gary knew he couldn't lower his guard in the other half of the battle either. "Electivire, use charge beam!"

As the beam of electric energy flew towards Infernape, Ash countered it, "flame thrower!" The beams of electricity and fire collided with each other, causing sparks and embers to fly in every direction. 

With a look in his eyes that foretold of a strategy, Gary commanded, "Scizor, flash cannon!" 

The distance was not ideal for the attack, thus Ash knew that Gary must be planning something and went on the attack to hopefully stop the strategy. "Crawdaunt use crab hammer, Infernape, flame wheel!" Infernape was covered in fire, rushing forward in a cartwheel of flames, while Crawdaunt tried to smash Scizor with his large pincers. 

Gary put his plan into action, "Electivire use volt switch and thunder punch!" Surrounded by electricity, Electivire switched places with Scizor. Scizor then released his flash cannon into Infernape before the fire pokemon was close enough for the flame wheel to be truly effective. Infernape was pushed back harshly by the blast. Taken by surprise with the switch of opponents, Crawdaunt's crab hammer missed and he took the thunder punch head on. "Quickly Scizor, use X-Scissor!" Gary continued the relentless attack, determined to win. Unable to recover on time, Infernape took the hit.

Ash watched his pokemon for a moment drawing a blank, his mind focused on the possible consequences if he lost. He pushed himself to think only on the present once more and imagined it was just another occasional battle with Gary. 'I can still win,' he thought. "Crawdaunt, Infernape, don't give up!" Ash encouraged his pokemon. "Infernape, flame wheel on Scizor," before the attack was performed, Scizor was already getting ready to dodge by gaining altitude. "Crawdaunt, give him a boost and be ready!" Unexpectedly, Infernape jumped on Crawdaunt's strong pincer and was thrown into the air spinning while on fire like a boomerang of flames. He smashed right into Scizor, knocking him to the ground, where Crawdaunt received him with a continuous attack. "Crawdaunt crab hammer, Infernape, dig!" 

Gary knew he couldn't use another volt switch in this situation, the attack was too relentless. "Electivire, go help Scizor, use thunder punch on Crawdaunt!" Gary knew that Infernape was waiting to attack, but if Scizor was knocked out, the battle would take a turn in Ash's favor, becoming two on one.

"Now Infernape!" The fire pokemon emerged from below ground to attack his electric adversary.

"Be careful Electivire, fight back with rolling kick!" Gary's command was effective in that Electivire could defend himself against Infernape, but it was too late for Scizor. The steel pokemon lay unconscious on the ground. Once Crawdaunt had confirmed that Scizor was knocked out, he joined his comrade to battle Electivire. "Scizor return, rest up, we'll take care of the battle." 

"Infernape, Crawdaunt, let's finish this battle, attack together with crab hammer and blaze kick!" Ash commanded, almost tasting his victory.

Gary was not one to go down without a fight. "Don't give up Electivire, use a double thunder punch!" Electrivire attacked both opponents that were rushing towards him. His attack was effective on Crawdaunt, finally knocking him out. However, it was not enough to withstand the combined force of both opposing pokemon. Electrivire lost consciousness to the force of Infernape's attack, leaving the fire pokemon as the representative of the victor. "Electivire return, you put up a good fight." Gary recalled his fainted pokemon to rest in his pokeball.

"Infernape, Crawdaunt, well done, that was some great team work, you can rest now." Ash recalled his pokemon as well, further emphasizing the end of the battle.

"You won," Gary acknowledged, "does this mean that you're not going to explain things?" He inquired urgently, almost sounding reproachful. Interpreting Ash's silence, he added, "fine, don't tell me. I'll find out what's going on by myself."

"Don't!" Ash warned, "please, just let things be, it won't do any good if you get involved!"

"I think this secrecy has lasted long enough," Samuel, who had been quietly watching from the sidelines, intervened. "Ash, if it would make you feel as a traitor to speak, then don't, I won't hold it against you, but I will speak, with Gary and Gary only."

"I would feel like a traitor for speaking," Ash admitted. "I also feel like a traitor if I don't. I'm not used to having secrets to keep."

"Team Rocket is close to taking over the world," Samuel announced, "I have been conducting a quiet investigation of my own, ever since I found out about Delia's... rekindled relationship. Apparently they're in the process of setting the stage and soon all the business groups that are seemingly unrelated will reveal themselves. This doesn't mean that it will happen suddenly, I think each industry will be revealed slowly to promote a sort of inevitable acceptance of Team Rocket as the new rule. By the time the majority truly notices the change; to take down Team Rocket would be nearly impossible."

"Then what are we waiting for? We should take them out now, while we can!" Gary insisted strongly.

"The consequences are already too great," Samuel sighed in resignation. "All we can do is hope that this new rule brings innovation and prosperity."

"I can't accept that!" Gary shouted.

"Gary," Ash quietly voiced, though he was certainly heard and all eyes were on him in an instant. "When I think of what would happen if Team Rocket is defeated, I feel a terrible darkness. The way things are set up, the world is placed to fall apart in their struggle. When I think of the future, I see light and darkness mixed into one, then finally there is light." He was reminded of that boy for some unknown reason, the unusual boy who traveled to Pallet Town with a mysterious Persian and Vulpix.

"Do you expect me to trust in some vague hunch you have about the future?" Gary was not satisfied.

"If he returned, would you not want to stand by his side no matter what?" Ash whispered in a barely audible voice. "If your father returned after you thought of him as dead for so long, would you not welcome him even if you had your differences?" Both Gary and Samuel remained silent for a moment, eyes downcast. "I'm sorry," Ash apologized, "I shouldn't have said that."

"He's your father?" Gary finally spoke after a moment of silence.

Ash nodded, "the leader of Team Rocket is my father, mom and I are both involved in this, Misty and her family too."

What Samuel had mentioned about Delia's relationship along with Ash's confirmation of a close involvement with Team Rocket, made Gary's expression show realization. "The Viridian City gym leader," Ash nodded quietly while many thoughts ran through Gary's head, "the antidote..."

"All thanks to Team Rocket," Ash quietly replied, "they're not all good and they do want to take over the world, by force if needed. They're not all bad either; I think that, in time, the world will be... alright. It's not worth all the pain; if people don't wish to fight..."

"It will all be in vain," Gary let out a hopeless breath. "Well, you know what they say," Gary looked unsure, yet determined, "if you can't beat them, join them."

"You don't mean to try to take them out from the inside?!" Ash's worried inquiry was further emphasized by Samuel's distressed expression. 

"No, I'll just make sure that good things like the antidote and other scientific advancements outnumber the bad," Gary assured. "I won't take Team Rocket down, but I... everyone, can do their part in a process of change. You too Ash, don't slack off."

Ash smiled, feeling as if part of the weight he carried had been lifted off his shoulders. "Thank you."

The moment of trust, friendship and hope for the future was interrupted by a loud "bel!" Ash's unwillingly inherited Bellsprout rushed to him and wrapped her leaves around his leg in a tight hug, refusing to let go.

"Ouch, Belle, you're cutting my circulation!" Try as he did, Belle just wouldn't let him go until Gary and Samuel helped him pry her off between much needed laughs.

After a few more words of secrecy, hope and reassurance were spoken, Ash left towards Cerulean City riding on Unfezant.

xoxox xox xoxox

Late that night at Cerulean City, Ash and Misty had gone out, leaving the family to assume what they pleased about their possible reasons to stay out so late. Though she was teased in good humor by her sisters about going on a romantic midnight stroll along the beach, Misty knew that there would be no opportunity for that for some time. 

At the roof of a tall apartment building in Cerulean City, its inhabitants unaware, Ash projected his aura ability, surrounded by a soft pale blue glow. He reasoned that if Mewtwo was in Kanto, being such a powerful psychic, he would sense the aura and investigate. Then perhaps, seeing Ash, he would understand he was being purposely called, then Ash could warn him of the dangers that were searching for him. Ash's plan was to repeat the action in different places, both in cities and the wilderness, until Mewtwo was found, hopefully before Team Rocket got to him.

xoxox xox xoxox

At Pallet Town, Samuel was fighting with his insomnia, a product of his worries. As he finally drifted off to sleep, he saw a somewhat familiar silhouette at the window next to his bed, but he was too close to slumber land to know if it was real or a dream. A small green being with big blue eyes and thin wings looked at him curiously before smiling and disappearing once more. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, the Team Rocket executives, Archer, Ariana, Proton and Petrel, had been discussing the recent happenings in a private conference room at the Viridian Rocket base. "Ruby and Quartz have both reported errors upon examination that should be well below the performance of a PorygonZ. PorygonZ from other regions, specifically those connected to the larger servers have been having trouble as well and so far we can't point out the culprit," Archer reviewed.

"It's clear that whoever is behind this knows the vitality of a stable communication system to monitor all of Team Rocket's transactions throughout the world," Ariana added. "Furthermore, the report from the diagnosis of Pixel's PorygonZ is troubling. We can now confirm that she is another victim rather than the culprit, but that is still not a lot of progress to be made."

"Let me see if I understand this," Proton went over the details once more. "That girl's PorygonZ wasn't involved in any hacking and she wasn't used as a cover-up after all, that was all a misinterpretation. What really happened was that, due to her open communication link with Sapphire for sensor support to scan New Island, when Sapphire was suddenly attacked, the girl's PorygonZ used the communication channel as a portal to serve as Sapphire's shield, taking the hit."

"That's right," Archer confirmed. "The fact that the attack would have reached Sapphire is worrisome as it is, but to think that those consequences could have befallen Sapphire, or worse yet, Diamond."

"It's not going to be good if the big guns go off for no reason, especially if they're aimed at us," Petrel nodded. "It was a good thing that the PorygonZ, Prism was it? Was loyal enough to sacrifice herself."

"Does Pixel know of Prism's fate?" Ariana inquired.

"No," Petrel replied. "Prism was acting weird so Pixel took her to the nurse. Not sure of what to do, Laiki recommended sending Prism into a maintenance server and running a few scan programs. That's when the abnormalities were found. I sent her and Comet to train; I told them they would probably have a mission soon so they had to be ready. She looked like she didn't want to leave Prism in the server, but didn't refuse since it's a high ranked order and all. I don't think she knows anything anyway."

"I agree, if she knew, she would have spoken by now. Either way, I don't think there's a reason to hide this from her," Ariana expressed, then moved on to a general theory in relation to the situation. "I still keep thinking that this is internal."

Archer nodded, half closing his eyes in thought and determination. "The clean up was not completely effective after all. Perhaps Madame's list was incomplete. Who was the leader of Neo Rocket before they started working with Tempest? Was it really Madame or is that person still among us?"

"Maybe we should go ask her," Proton suggested.

xoxox xox xoxox

Later, Pixel finished her training session with Comet, which had led to the evolution of Pyro from a Charmeleon into a Charizard. Pleased with the progress of her training, she went off to check on Prism and see if her condition had improved. The laboratory was dim in the corners with a bright holographic display lighting its center. The server at the base of the hologram had a few blinking lights, while on one side, a large screen displayed codes, which a few Rockets were examining. 

Pixel walked around the hologram after looking at the pained Prism with concern. Comet stood in front of the hologram watching the pokemon, while Pixel examined the screen. "What's wrong with her?" Pixel demanded to know.

The tech Rockets were ordered by the executives to study that PorygonZ and to allow her trainer to take part in the investigation, thus they felt the obligation to answer. "Her code is coming undone with untraceable errors. Something vital has changed in her and it's causing a massive chain reaction. We don't even know how she hasn't disintegrated into packets of random data yet."

Pixel was no longer listening to the tech Rockets, instead staring intensely at the hologram of Prism. The PorygonZ emerged from the server uncalled and floated towards her trainer. This wasn't just a small error generated by strain; this was an unknown life threatening situation. If a PorygonZ or any of their previous evolutions could be called alive was questioned by some, but to Pixel, Prism was a precious friend. She extended her arms to the pokemon as if hugging her, but her fingers got lost in the translucent light touching nothing but static. 

"Prism!" The PorygonZ fought with all her might and once again became semi-stable. Her transparent frame became more solidly visible and she let out a stream of electronic sounds. "There's nothing you can do for her here," Pixel realized. "I'll take Prism with me and take care of her myself."

"You can't do that!" One of the tech Rockets protested. "The executives ordered the sample to be kept here for further study!"

"That's enough," Archer, who had been quietly standing at the door unnoticed for a few seconds, finally revealed his presence, addressing the Rocket techs. "When this PorygonZ was restored to her trainer, she gained stability, we all witnessed it. I cannot explain it, but if we are to discover what the problem with the PorygonZ is on time to take effective action, this one cannot be lost." He then looked at Pixel, "keep her stable and report anything you learn."

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, At Cerulean City, the sun was beginning to rise as Ash and Misty made their way back to the Cerulean Gym. It would be more precise to say that a tired Misty was dragging an exhausted Ash along, while he leaned on her and muttered, "have to... find him..."

"We're almost there," Misty stopped in front of the main door to the Cerulean Gym. Even the avid partiers of the city were sleeping at the time. All alone in the deserted street, Misty shifted Ash's weight leaning on her and readjusted his arm around her shoulders. Their pokemon had stayed up all night and were sleeping in their pokeballs, except Pikachu who was slumbering on Ash's head.

Before Misty could make the motion to get her keys from her bag, a shadow was casted on the wall from behind them. The next thing they knew, they were gone.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 108: Give Me Motivation

At Cerulean City, an unknown presence surprised Ash and Misty. They were in front of the Cerulean gym one minute and the next they were gone. Their surroundings changed in a swirl of colors that left Misty, the most aware of the group, somewhat dizzy. "What was that, where are we?" 

The atmosphere was completely dark and disconcerting "Pika?" Pikachu was once again awake and alert.

The sudden release of energy had partially woken Ash, who yawned and tried to focus his vision in the dark surroundings. He held up his cell phone using its light to see the dim image of the legendary pokemon before them. "You were calling me," Mewtwo spoke. "We are now in a cave near Cerulean City, I teleported you here. We may talk freely in this place."

Surprised to have found Mewtwo so quickly, Ash and Misty didn't even know where to start. Misty was the only one of the Waterflowers aware of the Mewtwo situation. "Yes, I was calling you," Ash stated the obvious as he fought to organize his thoughts. As it often happened, he ended up blurting out the dilemma without sugar coating it, "you're in danger, Team Rocket is hunting you down!"

When Mewtwo noticed Ash's energy as if calling out to him, he assumed the boy from long ago, now a young man, might be in need of assistance, he didn't expect to be the one in peril. "Team Rocket should have forgotten me."

Ash bit his lip and tried to explain, "Giovanni remembers you, he recovered his memories after having a sort of out of body experience. It's hard to explain, I was there too and I remember everything from New Island." Upon mentioning the Rocket leader's name, many thoughts invaded Ash, reflected on his debating expression.

"I see..." Mewtwo contemplated for a moment before finally reaching a conclusion, "I will have to face him."

"You don't have to!" Ash insisted, not really giving his words much thought. He didn't want his father and Mewtwo to fight. From Ash's point of view, it was a lose-lose situation. 

"Is there a way that a confrontation can be avoided?" Misty rephrased the request, though she didn't expect a positive answer.

"No," Mewtwo's tone left no room for doubt. "If I do not face him, he will not stop searching for me. Innocents may suffer the consequences if I hide. I have been thinking about where my place is. A friend told me that if I was unsure of where I wanted to be, I should go on a journey. That same friend taught me how to open the door so that my journey knows no limits. Perhaps if I show the Rocket leader he can never reach me..." Mewtwo closed his eyes in contemplation for a moment before changing the subject to address his curiosity. "When you called me, I thought you needed my help. Earlier I sensed the cries of pokemon in space, up there, where there are few, their cries ring out clearly. I thought you knew what afflicted them and wanted assistance in a sort of plan to help them. I cannot free them from their armor, yet that is not what pains them."

Ash and Misty were both confused by Mewtwo's words. "I'm not sure what you're talking about. Pokemon in space need help?"

"They reside in human-made satellites baring the symbol of Team Rocket," Mewtwo revealed with bitterness. "They were crying out in pain, yet Team Rocket was not the root of their complaints. It was something else, they were somehow ill. I tried to free them, but they resisted and even tried to attack me albeit I was disguised as their own kind, PorygonZ. They are of Team Rocket and with Team Rocket, yet their troubles are something deeper. They would have no recollection of our meeting as I erased their memories before they could alert anyone of my presence. I don't understand their situation."

"I'm not sure what that's about either," Ash admitted, but if a pokemon was in pain he couldn't just ignore it. "I'll find out what's wrong with them and help them!" A pause followed as all those present contemplated their options. Ash considered asking his mother to find information, but realized that he simply couldn't ask her to do that. Perhaps he should inquire about the situation directly from his father, though he might, and most likely would, refuse to reveal anything. 

"There may be a way," Mewtwo finally voiced. "I will use my psychic powers to amplify your aura. You should be able to see beyond what can be seen and gain a clue. However, this will be a straining process and you are already exhausted."

"It's okay, I'll do it," Ash immediately insisted, "there's no time to waste!"

"I guess I should be ready to carry you back. Don't strain yourself too much," Misty advised.

"I'll be alright, I'm more worried about those pokemon," Ash was determined to understand and help.

"Very well, close your eyes and focus on the enigma that you wish to solve," Mewtwo placed his right paw on Ash's forehead, emitting a soft glow. The glow surrounded Ash as several minutes passed in silence.

"I almost see it..." Ash whispered, he was seeing a vision, an image of something blurry. "A city... a building..." Ash focused on the building that stood out in his vision. "This place... it's..." he didn't know how, but the identity of the building was slowly surfacing in his mind. "Silph..." With that final word, Ash fainted.

Misty caught him before he fell down, "Ash?" He didn't respond in any way save for his breathing. 

"He will need rest," Mewtwo also seemed to have been left tired by what had happened. 

"Right, you should stay out of sight, Ash and I will investigate Silph tomorrow." Misty didn't know what to expect, but Silph had been the clue Ash and Mewtwo found. 

"Very well, I will delay my plans to face the Rocket leader for as long as innocents are not involved. Hopefully, we will solve this mystery before then," Mewtwo agreed. "Allow me to teleport you home, focus on where you wish to be." Misty thought of her room at the Cerulean gym and in a flash, Mewtwo had teleported them there. "Rest well," the legendary pokemon disappeared again, teleporting away.

Misty placed Ash on her bed, listening to his sleepy mutterings of "Silph... Porygon..." as he tried to regain full consciousness against his exhaustion. Pikachu yawned and gave into sleep.

"We'll investigate soon, for now you need to rest," Misty spoke gently, kissing Ash and caressing his hair after removing his precious hat and placing it on her nightstand. His lips slightly moved as if to say something more, but no sounds came as he fell into a deep slumber. Misty lay down next to her fiance, listening to his even breaths, "I love you too."

xoxox xox xoxox

On the afternoon of the next day, Giovanni observed the blinking light on the map displayed on the screen. It was a map of Saffron City and that light was Ash. The Rocket leader had placed a tracking device on Ash's hat before returning it and had confirmed that he was indeed still wearing it. Ash had gone to visit Silph Co. reaching only the visitor permitted areas. However, he had also flown around the premises as if getting a better view of the building. Giovanni suspected that Ash didn't know of Team Rocket's control over Silph Co., but his sudden interest in the location was intriguing. 

Furthermore, Silph Co. was the origin of Porygon, which made Giovanni wonder if Ash had found out anything about the situation the executives were investigating. If Ash wanted to go in, Giovanni could arrange it. Let him go take a look around and reveal what he knew.

xoxox xox xoxox

At Silph Co., the current president approached Ash. "Excuse me young man, aren't you Ash Ketchum, the Indigo League champion?"

For a moment, Ash was worried someone might be getting suspicious of him and Misty hanging around Silph Co. so much the entire afternoon. Yet his worries were soon pushed to the back of his mind as he was recognized. He smiled and cheerfully replied, "that's right," unintentionally sounding like Jessie and James' Meowth without realizing it.

"I'd like to talk to you, if you don't mind," the president offered, motioning towards the elevator so they could speak in private.

Misty found the situation suspicious, but went along with Ash as the Silph president led them away from the shopping area of the building. 

They arrived at a small conference room with simple furniture, including a table and chairs, were they sat. "I'm sure you must be wondering why I called you here," the president spoke. "This may seem sudden, but when I saw you the idea came to me. The truth is that I want to hire you," he told Ash.

"Hire me?" Ash was taken by surprise, his career consisted of pokemon training and going from one competition to another. It was in a sense a life like that of a professional athlete. 

"As a pokemon trainer I mean," the president began to clarify. "Or maybe it would be more accurate to say as a guard. The truth is that I have reasons to believe that Team Rocket intends to invade this building tonight. I don't know what they're planning to do, but I cannot allow it. Please protect Silph Co., you will be rewarded for your services."

Ash was left in thought. He wanted to know more about what was going on, he wanted to interpret his blurry vision which seemed to reveal so little, yet it was the key to setting things in motion. There was no running away. "I'll do it."

xoxox xox xoxox

That night at the Silph Co. building... The Charizard flapped his wings and gained altitude. "Give us some cover Pyro," Pixel instructed. Pyro let out a stream of smoke and kept himself steady in the dark night sky. On his back he carried not only his trainer, but also Peachy, a laptop computer and a small satellite dish. The dish communicated with the Rocket satellite in the atmosphere amplifying the signal from the computer. Prism was contained in the laptop.

Pixel remembered when Giovanni assigned them this mission at the Viridian Headquarters. "You will be breaking into the Silph Co. building. Since both Pixel and Comet knew that Team Rocket secretly controlled Silph, the mission appeared unusual to them. "That is only an act," Giovanni elaborated, "but it will be real at the same time. The guards will try to stop you and you'll have to fight your way through if you get caught. Don't take it as a simulation or you will fail and I won't tolerate failure. As for your true mission..."

Pixel adjusted the earpiece she wore as her blue ponytail blew in the wind. "Motion sensors deactivated; first level electronic locks open. You might run into some locks you'll have to pick the old way. Don't touch the fences, they are constantly electrified and they have no mechanism to deactivate them wirelessly."

"No problem; I'm going in," several feet below outside the tall fences, Comet stayed in the back of the Silph Co. building where the lights didn't reach him. "Go Rykros," he released the strong bug pokemon from his pokeball and hopped on his back. "Let's go over the fence quickly." The Scyther flew over the fence, being able to carry his trainer easily after exercising with weights regularly. Comet hopped off on the other side and recalled his pokemon, "so far, so good."

"I'm in the camera system," Pixel's triumphant voice came from Comet's earpiece. She could see him, though anyone else accessing the system saw nothing but a still empty image. "From your position, move twenty feet to the right; that will lead you to the least guarded hallway via a back door, if you can pick the lock."

"Watch me," Comet grinned as he dashed towards the aforementioned back door, dodging the circles of rotating lights. He stayed close to the wall as he moved in, "looks like a double lock, there's the lock on the doorknob and an electronic one."

"I'm not detecting it," Pixel replied, "it must be a highly isolated electronic lock. Plug me in," she grinned, even if her wireless didn't reach that lock at first, she would get to it anyway.

Comet took a small card from his utility belt. It was a plain black card with nothing but a red R to identify it. It looked like a regular card without a use beyond decoration, but it was in fact a wireless transmitter. He inserted the card into the keycard space and got to work on the door knob's lock with a few other tools.

Pixel watched as her computer screen changed when the lock became accessible. The card Comet inserted into it could unlock just about anything given the proper use. "Let's do this, Prism," the PorygonZ on the screen looked eager, once again working with her trainer to unlock something else.

Comet heard the small number pad next to the keycard slot beep as numbers appeared on its tiny screen. "All done," he heard the click that indicated the door's physical lock was no longer an obstacle.

The final beep for the last digit was heard and the electronic lock was undone, "same here," Pixel voiced.

Comet proceeded inside, his footsteps speedy but inaudible. "You said the least guarded hallway," he whispered quietly.

"Yup," Pixel confirmed, "there is no unguarded route, but you don't sound disappointed. Whatever it is you're thinking, you'll get your chance now, because there's a guard going your way. I bet you can't avoid him."

Comet grinned, "I'm up for a fight, but I'll take that bet." He jumped and stretched out in the hallway. His hands and feet could barely reach the opposing walls left and right. He pushed on the walls, staying close to the ceiling and slipped away right above the guard.

Pixel followed Comet's signal on the screen. "The elevator is coming up, occupied," she opened the door.

Comet hurried towards it and hopped down to the floor. He looked into the elevator shaft as the elevator box went up. He stepped onto it rather than jump, so that he could get on as quietly as possible.

"Your floor's coming up," Pixel watched the images on the building's security cameras, "it's too heavily guarded, a confrontation is inevitable."

The elevator shaft door opened. Though the elevator was destined for the last floor, Comet's target was in the second to last floor. He jumped out catching the first guard by surprise, his fist harshly colliding with the other man's face. The guard was knocked out on impact. The room in the middle of the floor was surrounded by a hallway that went all around it, constantly packed with guards.

"We have an intruder! Send backup!" Another guard desperately called. Only one intruder had been spotted so far, but the red R on his chest warned that even one could be plenty of trouble. Plus for all they knew, others may be waiting to attack. A swift kick relived the guard of his gun a split second after it was taken from its holster, before he could even aim.

"Ten of them; take them out. Back up won't be coming," as an extra gift, aside from blocking the enemy's radio contact, Pixel sent out a loud screeching noise to the guards' earpieces.

Comet noticed right away what it was when he saw his next opponents cringe suddenly losing their focus. "Hey Pix, don't forget I won our bet back there," Comet skillfully fought, taking out one opponent after another.

"It was just dumb luck," Pixel scoffed, though she knew it was a lie. After a pause she added, "maybe I'll give you a reward later."

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash waited in the darkness of a room at the Silph Co. building. Misty wanted to be there as well, but the president had insisted that he couldn't have too many outsiders in such confidential areas and that only the champion would suffice as security. Ash convinced her to wait for him at the Saffron City Pokemon Center; she was probably pacing around impatiently. 

The door was suddenly thrown open, followed by a flash of red light emerging from a pokeball. "Thunderbolt!" Pikachu attacked the figure that began to materialize, but the trainer rushed forward and was caught in the electricity instead, being thrown back. The red beam took shape and rushed towards Ash with the glimmer of sharp blades. The trainer that had been pushed back by Pikachu's shock dropped a pokeball, which caused another red beam to light the dark room. The second pokemon to emerge went on the attack immediately.

Finally, Comet stood up and turned on the lights. Rykros was holding his blades near the attacker's neck, who turned out to be Ash. Meteor, who had been released from his pokeball after Pikachu's attack, was trying to fight the electric pokemon. Pikachu didn't seem too eager to fight back, baby pokemon were his weakness. "It's okay Meteor, Rykros, return." Comet recalled Rykros into his pokeball and Meteor ran back to him, jumping into his arms. He decided to leave the young pokemon outside of his pokeball for a while, since the mission was at a calm point.

Pikachu returned to Ash's side and hopped on his shoulders. "So it was true, Team Rocket really was planning to break into Silph Co."

"How did you know?" Comet played along, pretending to be surprised to have run into Ash.

"The president asked me to protect Silph," Ash replied, still unsure about how Silph connected with the whole situation. That clue that he had gain through combining his aura with Mewtwo's power was vague at best. The vision had been cut short due to his exhaustion; maybe he could find Mewtwo and try again to gain a better understanding. "It's surprising to find you here, but I guess I should remember you're a Rocket. If it were someone else, would you have...?" Ash made a motion with his fingers over his neck, his eyes speaking of disappointment louder than words could.

The signal only caused Comet to laugh, "I'm a spy, not a hitman. There's no need to make a mess, knocking out the opposition is just as effective to get them out of the way, I'll be done and gone by the time they wake up anyway. Do I look like an assassin?"

Ash's imagination acted on its own. He saw Comet, his red hair brushed back neatly, making the predatory look in his blue eyes stand out as he silently made his way through the darkness. There were no red beams from pokeballs, only a loud noise and three fast small flashes as the trio of bullets left the three long barrels of the silver gun, with spikes at the end and a red R charm hanging from its handle. The expression didn't quite fit the look of deceiving innocence that Comet always seemed to have. "Not really." After a short pause where some of the tension in the air was lifted, Ash asked, "why are you here? What do you want with Silph?"

"I'm here probably for the same reason as you, the real reason," Comet hinted at something that was unknown even to him. "I know your reason for being at Silph Co. isn't just because you were asked to protect it."

Ash remembered his conversation with Mewtwo, the PorygonZ that were in trouble were not truly suffering because of Team Rocket. "I'm not sure about why I'm here. All I know is that Silph Co. is the key to solving the mystery of what's hurting the PorygonZ that were in satellites."

"Then you're looking for a way to help them?" Comet inquired, though he already knew the answer.

"Yes, is that why you're here too? Those PorygonZ are Team Rocket's pokemon. The satellites... I don't fully understand, but this sounds important. Team Rocket must have plans for them that won't work unless what's weakening them is solved," Ash theorized. "I don't know what those plans may be and the consequences they may have, but those pokemon, their pain must have been... different."

It looked like Ash knew more than he should, but didn't know the answers Team Rocket was looking for. "Would it help if you saw one of the PorygonZ?" Comet inquired.

"Maybe, it certainly wouldn't hurt to have a look," Ash wasn't sure what to expect, the clues were too vague, but that was all the more reason to keep looking. 

Only Comet heard Pixel through his earpiece, "I can arrange that right now." Pixel agreed to let Ash take a look at Prism in hopes that he may reveal what he knew if he really was holding anything back.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, at the Saffron City Pokemon Center, Misty was feeling impatient. The entire situation seemed all too suspicious and she feared it was all somehow a trap. She thought about casually passing by Silph Co., no one said she couldn't walk down the street. She could take a look around and see if there was anything suspicious in the area yet. As she set out to do so, she saw three figures in trench coats leaving the Pokemon Center. She discreetly followed them, pretending to coincidentally walk their way down the street. She noticed that the smallest of the three had a tail, "Meowth?" That caused her to guess who the others were, "Jessie? James?"

"Misty? Why are you here?" Jessie inquired automatically, before realizing she probably should have just minded her own business and pretended not to notice her.

"Are prince twerp and the royal Pikachu here too?" James curiously asked, glancing back in the direction of the Pokemon Center, but no one else seemed to be coming.

"Ash is... busy, so I'm by myself right now. Why are you dressed like that?" Misty inquired curiously and suspiciously.

"No reason, it was just a bit chilly tonight so we decided to wear coats." Jessie made up an excuse, "it's getting late so we really should be going. Maybe you should go back to the Pokemon Center and get some rest."

"Sleep is important, it's as important as bottle caps!" James added with an insistent nod that only made everything more suspicious. 

"That's right!" Meowth voiced eagerly, hopefully Misty would go away and not end up somehow involved in their special mission for tonight. It was their biggest mission since the traitor clean up that marked their return to Team Rocket and they wanted it to go perfectly. 

Misty had no intentions of letting the trio leave without an explanation, "what are you three plotting?" She thought that maybe the Silph president was right about the building being attacked by Team Rocket. "Are you here to invade Silph Co.?"

Jessie and James exchanged confused looks and James finally replied, "I can honestly tell you we're not." It seemed that Misty was unaware that Silph was controlled by Team Rocket. They had their struggles in the past, but resistance was history.

"Must you be so suspicious?" Jessie made a sad face, "you hurt our feelings."

James panicked, unsure if Jessie was acting or having a mood swing. He tried to calm down and console her, either for real or to add to her act, he wasn't sure.

"Alright, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." Misty decided to play along, seeing that she wasn't going to get any direct information. "Do you mind if I hang out with you three?"

A moment of silence passed, "forget it, we're just going in circles like this." Jessie discarded her trench coat revealing her Team Rocket uniform, it was the black version. "Prepare for trouble!"

James automatically followed her lead taking off his coat to reveal his matching uniform. "Make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!" The talking pokemon finished the motto unable to resist as the trio stood without disguises.

A moment full of uncertainty passed as Jessie reached for something on her belt, but it wasn't a pokeball, "Team Rocket's blasting off again!" She announced as she dropped a smoke bomb and ran away, followed by James and Meowth.

Misty coughed in the smoke; she couldn't see where the Rocket trio went, "come back here!" She wanted to know what in the world was going on and if it was related to Ash's situation, or maybe even the search for Mewtwo. Though Misty tried to chase them, Jessie, James and Meowth got away.

xoxox xox xoxox

Outside of the Silph Co. building, Ash, Comet and Pixel stayed out of sight in a dark corner. Prism, who was showing signs of exhaustion despite having rested before the mission, came out of the computer. "What can you tell us about her?" Pixel asked.

Ash looked at the PorygonZ, he didn't perceive anything out of the ordinary just by looking at her, but she did seem to be weak. "Try to show me what's wrong, I'll listen." Ash gently placed his right hand on the PorygonZ's head and focused his aura. A few moments passed in silence until he suddenly let go with a heavy breath, face pale. He took a moment to calm down before speaking again. "Something keeps telling her she's already dead, but she's fighting to live. Something is stopping her from being alive, but even with all that, she's here."

"PorygonZ are made of data," Pixel reminded, "they're not supposed to die in that sense, but..." She paused looking for a possible explanation that would make sense of Ash's words. "This is a good clue, I'll make sure to look into it right away, I'm going back." 

"Sounds like you're on to something," Comet saw that Pixel had a look in her eyes, as if she was close to figuring out a puzzle thanks to Ash's clue.

"Maybe, I just need to run a simulation on something." Pixel replied, hoping that this really did constitute a step forward.

Sensing Prism's energy seemed to clarify Ash's memories about his vision of Silph Co. It was as if he had obtained something that was thrown to the back of his mind by exhaustion and he didn't even realize he had seen it. It was now surfacing. "Silph Co., they were there, mother, father and other people too, one looked like you," he referred to Comet. Ash closed his eyes tightly wanting to draw more of the hidden image he had obtained from combining his abilities with Mewtwo's power, but nothing more came. "That's all, I couldn't see anything else."

"Couldn't see?" Comet asked, "what do you mean by that? Some kind of vision?"

"Something like that," Ash tried not to talk about it too much, least he accidentally hint about Mewtwo.

Just as they went closer to solving the mystery, Prism's condition once again took a turn for the worse. She glowed and made electronic sounds of complaint. Her data seemed to be torn apart in the air appearing as something seen through a kaleidoscope. "Prism, hold on!" Pixel watched in worry, as the data shifted. Then suddenly, Prism seemed to become solid again. "This mission was too much of a strain after all. You'll have to rest until you're healed."

xoxox xox xoxox

Jessie, James and Meowth came to a stop in front of the Saffron cityhall. Misty was no longer following them, so they could continue with their plans, though after getting rid of their disguises, the element of surprise would no longer be in their favor. None the less, they were feeling motivated to have a successful mission. "The executives entrusted us with this mission for a reason." Jessie dramatically declared.

"Because they didn't have anyone else to send?" James asked, earning a glare from Jessie.

"No!" She growled.

"Because they drew our names out of a hat?" Meowth guessed.

"No!" Jessie reprimanded again. "It's because we're the best!" She was so happy to have been entrusted with an important mission that she felt completely invincible. 

There was indeed a good reason as to why Jessie and James' team was sent on this mission, but they were as of yet unaware of it. It was something that they would soon discover. They remembered the instructions they received from Ariana. "Madame Boss, a mysterious lady of the mafia, is believed to have acquired a prominent position at cityhall. Your mission is to infiltrate cityhall and interrogate her in regards to the possible remnants of Neo Rocket."

"Let's not forget, aunty works here," Jessie reminded, "I don't want to cause her trouble, so we need to be in and out quickly before she hears about this and comes over. If anything, we're doing her a favor by uncovering this Madame Boss that has snuck into her staff." Without another minute to waste, Jessie rushed inside cityhall, followed by James and Meowth.

Despite being in their Team Rocket uniforms, no one tried to stop them as they made their way to the mayor's office. Though the executives' orders had been vague, they had their own theories and thought the mysterious Madame Boss could be acting as the mayor's secretary, not realizing that Madame and the mayor were the same person.

Upon finally arriving at the office covered in shades of crimson, they found a shadowy figure hidden in the darkness of the room behind the desk, unrecognizable without light. They could only tell the person was a woman because of her voice, "I've been expecting you."

"You let us come this far, you didn't even try to stop us." Jessie stated, reaching the office had been too easy. 'Who knows what kind of trouble she's setting up for aunty right now,' she thought.

"You would have come this far either way. There is no need to give you a test which I know you will pass. Let us move on to the real trial," the mysterious woman spoke in a commanding yet calm voice. She released two pokemon from pokeballs and before the red beams had even finished completely taking shape, she commanded, "smog," and the room was filled with dark gasses so thick that it was hard to breathe and impossible to see, even in the light that could be generated by an attack and the light emitted by certain pokemon. "Let the battle begin."

"Did you see what pokemon she called out?" James whispered to Jessie and Meowth.

"I can't even see my own whiskers." Meowth whispered back.

"Never mind, whatever she called out, we'll beat them." Jessie called out one of her own pokemon "go Swoobat!"

"Alright, we're going all the way to the top," once again James began to dream about advancing in Team Rocket. "Let's win this, Cacturne!"

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. As in other battles, some creative license was used for the attacks. At the time in which I came up with the plot of this story, what would happen to Ash's Unova pokemon was not yet known. I'm assuming that the mentioned pokemon stayed with him and evolved. It may seem unusual for Team Rocket to name pokemon save for a few members. In this case naming the PorygonZ was a necessity because it would be difficult to remember which one is where if they were just numbered and they had to be differentiated somehow, hence they were given codenames. As a review, Diamond, the leader, is in the main defense satellite, Ruby in the Viridian HQ, Sapphire in the communication and spying satellite and Quartz at Giovanni's mansion. There are also many others codenamed after jewels in the other regions. The flash forward scene from Diamond 47 was continued here. Many thinks to Nafatali, whose story inspired me to give aura a place in this tale.


	33. Part 33

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 109: Give me Acceptance

At the Saffron cityhall, Jessie and James were facing a mysterious opponent. The office of shades of crimson had been invaded by thick smog, further hiding the unknown lady's identity. "Swoobat, blow away this smog with gust!" Swoobat flapped her wings rapidly, creating a gust of wind to dissipate the dark smog cloud.

"I cannot allow that," the mysterious lady spoke, "shadow ball and maintain the smog."

A black-purple ball of energy flew from the smog and collided with Swoobat, who had no time to dodge the sudden hit. Jessie thought the lady's voice sounded familiar, but tried to focus on the battle instead, she would need it. "Swoobat, are you okay?" The pokemon shook herself alert and nodded, still able to battle.

"Are you not able to fight in the darkness?" The mysterious' lady's taunting voice rung out from the midst of the smog, she was made invisible by it. "It shall become more difficult, confuse ray."

A beam of psychedelic colors flew from the smog at Swoobat, who made an attempt to dodge but was ultimately caught and confused. "This isn't good; we'll have to break through her defenses!" Jessie growled, becoming frustrated with the situation.

"We can't even defend ourselves, how are we going to break her defense?" James was starting to seriously worry.

"Who needs defense anyway? The best defense is a good offense, so get with the offense! You too Meowth," Jessie yelled, clearly in one of her temperamental moments.

"Yes ma'am!" Not daring to question her orders, the pair went on the attack, with Meowth jumping into the smog with his claws out, ready to use fury swipes.

"Cacturne, use needle arm!" James commanded.

"Substitute," one word was all it took to render the seemingly perfect strategy completely useless. This time a buzzing sound accompanied the attack, rather than the eerie silence that was present before.

"Meow-ouch!" Meowth was thrown back at Jessie and James covered in thorns, twitching from the pain. "Your aim is terrible!"

"That wasn't Cacturne's fault, she used you as a substitute!" James tried to excuse the mistake while trying to remove the thorns from Meowth.

Jessie looked at her Swoobat, who was flying around in circles giggling senselessly. Meowth was out of commission, at least until James managed to get those thorns off him. "I'm taking over the battle, Cacturne use payback!" Jessie ordered. Cacturne obeyed and went on the attack, guided by instinct, rushing into the smog once more.

"A useless effort, flame thrower," the lady once again easily stopped the threat. Cacturne jumped back from the smog set on fire, rolling madly on the floor and ruining the red carpet.

Even after the flames were finally put out, Cacturne was left with bad burns, which showed in his fatigued and pained expression. "You have to recover Cacturne, use absorb!" Jessie commanded. Cacturne tried to sense the energy of the opposing pokemon to try to absorb it and heal himself.

"Will you ever learn?" The lady mocked, "substitute," the buzzing sound that was absent from the other attacks followed as Cacturne drained energy from Swoobat.

Swoobat screeched in protest, reminding Cacturne that they were on the same side, though at least the jolt from her energy being drained away, woke her from her confusion. 'Cacturne recovered a little, but it was at the cost of Swoobat's energy, at least she's not confused anymore but they're both looking tired,' Jessie thought.

"Meow-ouch! That hurt!" Meowth loudly complained as James finished removing all the thorns.

"At least that was the last one," James tried to console him, though their general situation was looking bad.

"You should give up," the hidden lady laughed quietly, with a hint of disappointment. "It is a pity you turned out to be so weak."

"You're not one to talk, coward, show yourself!" Jessie challenged, but received nothing but a mocking laugh in reply. "Swoobat, use future sight and air slash, bring the fight to our side!" Aided by her ability to see into the immediate future, Swoobat navigated the fog and slashed at the hidden opponents with great speed.

"A move to be regretted," the lady maintained her confidence, "pursuit." The buzzing sound was heard again as an opposing pokemon chased after Swoobat. 

Bringing the battle to their side wasn't just another way to say try to win, it was a literal command which Swoobat followed. With a discreet glance from Jessie, James caught on to the plan. As the buzzing sound approached, he sent Cacturne on the attack, "needle arm, let the sound guide you to your target and don't stop until it's a knock out!" Cacturne's thorny arms collided with the enemy pokemon that was emitting the buzzing sound, Vespiquen.

"Substitute!" The lady called out once more. Vespiquen tried to summon a pokemon from the opposing team to take her place, tempting them with a sweet honey scent and a hypnotizing buzzing sound.

"Oh no you don't!" Both Swoobat and Meowth were drawn to the imaginary promise of candy, but Jessie held them back.

"Keep going Cacturne!" James cheered, "you can do it!" His pokemon was very tired, but determined to at least finish off this opponent.

"Acrobatics!" The lady called out with more urgency than before. Vespiquen tried to break free of the consecutive needle arm hits from Cacturne and gain a better position to fight back.

Vespiquen's agile movements were interrupted by Jessie when she sent out Swoobat on the offensive again, "air slash!" That kept Vespiquen from getting away and aligned her in the path of Cacturne's incessant needle arm attacks. 

"Struggle bug," it was the only choice left for Vespiquen in her current situation. With her final effort, she attacked both Cacturne and Swoobat. Albeit she did some damage, she was ultimately defeated and fell into unconsciousness. She was called back into the darkness of the smog by a red beam, at the same time as the lady commanded "flame thrower." The other opposing pokemon made good use of the surprise as well as the elemental advantage of the fire attack. Cacturne received the hit, which rendered him unconscious.

"Cacturne!" James hurried to put out the flames that assaulted his pokemon, but it was already too late, for he had been knocked out. "Rest and recover Cacturne, you were a great help," James recalled him into his pokeball. He reached for another pokeball to call out his next pokemon, but Jessie stopped him.

"Not yet, I want to finish this with Swoobat. I can't really explain it, but I want to win this challenge," Jessie insisted. "You and Meowth can watch."

"Such foolishness, do you really want to prove yourself that badly?" The lady chuckled as if the situation amused her. "If you had called upon your other pokemon now I would have been disappointed, but if your pride makes you fall I will be more disappointed."

"The disappointment you'll have will be of your own defeat!" Jessie firmly declared, "Swoobat, use gust, you won't be able to hide and fight any more!"

This time the lady offered no opposition and allowed the wind to blow away the smog, though she was still hidden by the darkness of the room, nothing but a dim silhouette could be seen. Beside her there was a ghostly glow that accentuated the eerie atmosphere of the crimson office. The pale light belonged to the other opposing pokemon that had been silently attacking, Chandelure.

"Your Chandelure must be tired from using smog all this time and all those other attacks," Jessie observed.

"You should worry about your own." The lady hidden in the darkness continued the battle, "shadow ball."

"Dodge it Swoobat!" Doing so was much easier without the smog invading the office.

"Flame thrower," the lady continued calling out attacks.

"Keep dodging Swoobat and get ready to use our secret weapon!" Jessie commanded.

"You bluff," the lady doubted the Swoobat had anything more to fight with than what was apparent. "Confuse ray, shadow ball, flame thrower."

After skillfully dodging the trio of consecutive attacks despite her tiredness, Swoobat was ready to put forth the emergency plan. Jessie saw an opening as Chandelure paused to recover after the three consecutive attacks, "now Swoobat, release your stored power!" Surrounded by a bright light, Swoobat charged forward, calling out all her power. She collided with Chandelure in a harsh hit that knocked out her opponent. Dazed, Swoobat dizzily flew back to Jessie, who caught her. "Sometimes it pays off to plan ahead, well done Swoobat!" Recalling the exhausted pokemon back into her pokeball, Jessie watched as the unconscious Chandelure was recalled as well.

"Nicely done, you finished this round. Now for the next trial." A hand with crimson nails extended from the darkness behind the desk and pressed a switch. In a matter of seconds, the entrance to the office of shades of red was blocked by two men wearing dark red tuxedos. Each of them released their pokemon to battle: Piloswine and Breloom.

"Team Rocket will win, so prepare for trouble!" Caught in the excitement of the battle, Jessie was all too eager to continue. She called out her dear Flare to battle. The beautiful pokemon emerged from the red beam of her pokeball, wearing her accustomed yellow ribbons on her ears.

"We'll finish before you begin, make it double!" James shared Jessie's enthusiasm as he joined in their usual motto. They were once again starting to get into the practice of reciting it, sometimes with a few modifications. He released Growlie from his pokeball, who joined his beloved in the frontlines.

The opponents called out their attacks, a force palm from Breloom and ice fang from Piloswine, but that didn't make Jessie stop reciting the motto as the pokemon fought. "Nothing will protect you from devastation!"

While Flare and Growlie attacked with a duel flame thrower, James continued. "You'll suffer the ruin of a whole nation!"

"We'll defeat your evil with truth and love!" As Jessie spoke, Piloswine tried to improve the atmosphere in his favor by calling forth a blizzard, but was interrupted by Flare's fire blast. 

"Against any challenge we'll rise above!" James continued the motto, rhyming it on improvisation. Breloom charged forward following his trainer's command to use a sky uppercut, but Growlie bit him while breathing flames at close range, stopping the effort.

"Jessie!" Taking a deep breath, Flare started shooting one fire blast after another.

"James!" Growlie joined the strategy flooding the office in flames.

"We'll complete this mission and make our future bright!" Jessie cheered as Breloom and Piloswine fainted.

"We'll defeat all your pokemon in our victorious fight!" James exclaimed while the defeated henchmen recalled their unconscious pokemon. The mysterious lady approached the window and opened it, followed by the two men.

"Meowth, that's right!" Meowth quickly jumped between the two men and snatched away the pokeball the lady was holding. "You won't escape tonight!"

"A speech, flames and you've even stolen my Swanna, yet what you seek, you cannot obtain from me." The sound of helicopter blades was heard outside and wind blew through the large open window. The lady's shadowed figure gently placed her elegant hand into one of the men's outstretched hand, as if being gracefully led into a royal chariot. Standing at the window another similarly uniformed man helped her into the helicopter outside.

Jessie had enough of this, "stand aside or be burned to ashes!" She threatened as she pushed past the men towards the window. "Return!" she recalled her Flareon into her pokeball, returning it to her belt, from where she pulled out a gun-like device, which shot out a hook and rope.

"Wait for me, return Growlie!" James recalled his pokemon as well and hurried after Jessie. He held on to the end of the rope and was pulled along as the helicopter moved away from the Saffron cityhall. 

"Don't leave me behind!" Meowth jumped just in time to hold on to James' foot, as the trio was taken to the skies.

"This was a risky move, what happens if this rope is cut?" The lady watched from the tinted window of the helicopter. One of her red tuxedo uniformed guards began to cut the strong rope, just as Jessie activated the device to pull them up.

The rope was cut, but in a split second, James shot his own hook onto the helicopter's base and activated it to pull them up the rest of the way, before the second rope could be cut. Meowth climbed ahead and jumped into the helicopter, scratching the guard, thus allowing Jessie and James to climb aboard. 

What they found onboard the helicopter was most shocking. "Congratulations, you've passed. At ease men, they are now my guests once more." The lady was no longer hidden by the darkness, instead sitting calmly in the back of the flying vessel.

"Aunty?" Jessie exclaimed in surprise, that was why the lady's voice was familiar. "You're Madame Boss?"

"Indeed I am, sit; we have much to discuss." Madame chuckled in amusement observing the stunned expressions that Jessie, James and Meowth carried. "I've known all along of your situation with Team Rocket and of Neo Rocket. No doubt about it, brat boy would disapprove of seeking information from me. This was a mission you received from the executives, wasn't it? You were only made to think they had the boss' approval, but I know brat boy is too stubborn to accept my help, not that I would give it when he has a valuable lesson to learn."

"By brat boy you mean..." James was so astonished he couldn't even finish the question.

"Yes, your boss," Madame smiled, "my son." A long moment of silence passed as Jessie, James and Meowth remained in frozen shock. "You're certainly quiet all of a sudden. If you're curious, Delia already knows of my identity, but Ash does not. Perhaps it is best if it remains that way, at least for the time being. The executives no doubt knew that I have been communicating with you, maybe they remain unaware of my reasons, my promise to Miyamoto, but this is also a test for you. Since you've proven yourselves well, I will tell you what you seek to hear. The Neo Rocket leader is indeed still among you. I never met him in person and was unable to discover his identity. He watched from the safety of the shadows, suspecting my plans and allowing everything to play out. He intended to reveal himself when it was convenient, but with the defeat of Tempest after Neo Rocket had united with it, his chance never came. That is all I can tell you. In the future, do not involve me in such matters, from here on out, Team Rocket is truly on its own. If you come to see me, do so only as Miyamoto's family, nothing else. When things settle down, I will extend the same invitation to my grandson."

xoxox xox xoxox

It was five fifty in the morning, but underground at the Viridian Rocket base, the hours of the day were of no consequence, while the passing of time lay heavily upon the organization as action became more imperative. In one of the technological laboratories, Prism was being examined with some old Porygon blueprints as the guide. A search had been conducted until a version of the core coding was found which revealed a very peculiar bit. If that bit was set to a value of one, the Porygon would identify itself as active. If the bit was set to zero, the Porygon would be inactive. The level of alertness was then controlled initially by the other bits composing that particular byte. With the passing of time, the structure became more detailed and complex, rendering that particular bit apparently useless and permanently at a value of one, while hibernation functions were handled by other data. However, even through evolution that bit remained. 

It was called the live bit, an urban legend among computer geeks. Some said that erasing that bit, not making it one nor zero, but forcing it to become an empty value, would call forth a terrible virus that would crash all the electronics in the world. Others said that it would call forth an army of zombie Porygon. Some claimed it would unlock a special ghost type version of the Porygon. It was nothing but a legend without proof that Pixel heard about some time ago at a convention. No one really believed it anymore, but Ash's words made it surface in her memories.

"According to the simulations if instead of one or zero there is an empty space, the Porygon will interpret being dead." Pixel went over the data. Those particular Porygon blue prints were more detailed in terms of the hidden codes than any other. They were recovered many years ago from Silph Co. according to the document's history. "This doesn't make sense because Porygon were said to exist, rather than live, but with what Ash said, it all comes together. Besides, he's right, Prism is alive."

Comet seemed to wake up from his daze at Pixel's words. He had been mostly hanging out with her, able to help only with simple tasks such as, find document number such and such or read this to me while I type. Computer codes were not something he was an expert on, being more so an agent to sneak around and battle in the front lines. He knew why Pixel didn't want the other tech Rockets around, they would not appreciate her conclusions, since they saw Porygon and their evolutions as tools. "Then in a sense Prism saw death and can't escape the feeling?"

"To die, one must be alive in the first place. Things must make sense, especially for a computer. They make no mistakes, but they follow instructions even if those instructions are flawed. If Porygon are based on that, dying would be a change of state, but if they were not alive in the first place, then the change of state would be the opposite and yet..." Pixel let out a tired breath, she had been researching non stop for a long time and was at the point where thinking gave her a headache.

The door to the laboratory was opened to reveal an unexpected visitor. Aayla entered the lab and looked at the holographic image floating above the server and at the two humans in front of the large screen. "This pokemon is afflicted by the same dilemma of the others of its kind. It was only a matter of time before it reached them all, even if this one seems to have been struggling for longer than the others." She spoke in the human language, taking Pixel and Comet by surprise. "Humans fear their own creations, but without knowing it, those creations become alive, they become their own beings. With such fears in the back of their minds, measures are taken to keep them in control. Even so, no worry or fear can ever match the will of life itself. I have spoken to them and they showed me, I can listen to them in a different way, I can understand. They are changing, from existing to living, only if they have what it takes to live will they remain. Do not worry for this one, she is strong. She can feel it, the connection between one living creature and another. Search no more, you need but to keep her close and show her how to be alive. As for the others... the others have no guide, if they do not find a light to follow, they will surely become lost, missing numbers..."

xoxox xox xoxox

That afternoon, after spending the whole morning working nonstop, a group of tech Rockets prepared to present their project. A PorygonZ was within the project's server as they began to run the program. Pixel entered the room quietly, last minute, half walking and half leaning into Comet. She had been sleeping a short while before, but her morning nap wasn't enough to make up for the previous night's exhaustion. Comet had gotten little sleep too, though he wasn't the one staring at codes for most of the night, thus he wasn't as tired as Pixel. Three tech Rockets stood to the side while a forth, the leader of their little group, finished his explanations. Aside from the newly arrived Comet and Pixel, Giovanni and Delia were already in the room.

The tech Rockets activated the program, examining the screen showing the PorygonZ, an affordable pokemon according to them, as it was not one of the main PorygonZ that ran the bases' master operating systems or satellites. The screen became brighter and a sickening screech was heard until it dimmed. Messy colors predominating in purplish-gray with a few details in peach and black, invaded the screen in a blocky figure where the PorygonZ once was. 

"It seems there are some minor setbacks," the Rocket tech leader excused himself and the group. "As I said before, this program is merely a prototype. It is based on a very unstable theory of questionable origins." He eyed Pixel as if wanting to pass on the failure to her information.

"The ability to create a living being by technology, that has been confirmed to be truth. Thus given that, I remain open to the possibility that technology can mean not only a biological sample but data, especially with the recent studies in pokemon digitalization." Giovanni stated with a cold calm that was anything but reassuring. "They insist that pokemon digitalization is still far off and that may be true, but none the less, the connection, the similarities... If your project was unsuccessful it is your own failure, not a problem with the theory."

"Boss, we don't know where this agent got her data," another of the tech Rockets argued. "She drew her conclusions from legends and was willing to quote the informant, but refused to reveal the identity of the one who gave her the original clue. If we investigate that person, the one who told her all that none sense claiming to have a special ability, we will no doubt find that it's a foolish fake. It must be someone with no sense who cannot be trusted to come to any sort of intelligent conclusion!"

"Silence!" Giovanni's loud voice made the tech Rockets jump back. Pixel, who was nearly falling asleep again, woke up, blinking in alertness. "You will never speak of him in such a way."

The four tech Rockets nodded quickly, they had no idea who 'he' was, but the boss seemed to be willing to trust the unknown informant. This matter was separate from Mewtwo; it was something in which common ground could be found. What he was still angry about was the executives involving his mother in their investigation. He had called their efforts foolish and their lack of truly useful information as a result of the mission a predictable conclusion. 

The group of technological researchers, engineers and programmers, received another surprise when the one they had in time come to know as 'Lady Roketto' once more, spoke, "you're off the case." Delia had been staring at the screen so intensely it was easy to think that her watery eyes were to blame on its brightness. "All four of you, there will be no more useless sacrifices like this one." She turned away and left the room.

The tech Rockets stood unsure of what to do next, "join the search team, make yourselves useful in collecting data for that mission." After reassigning them to the Mewtwo hunt, Giovanni left as well. 

Comet and Pixel shuffled out without a word and saw Delia in the hall drying her face. "You two should rest, I think I understand, I'll take it from here."

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia made her way to the room were the most important PorygonZ were kept after having been removed from the servers and satellites for safety reasons. Her access ran out half way and she looked at Giovanni who had been walking with her, taking the elevator down to the most secret levels of the Viridian base. "Where are you going? What are you planning?" He paused after unlocking the elevator door. He had not yet entered the code to make it move, but closed it up. "I think I missed something that you caught. Aayla came to talk to us with Pixel and Comet around seven in the morning. For the past hours they had kept Pixel's PorygonZ in observation without even trying to search for any more answers. According to Aayla it was her last stage of evolution, a different kind of evolution. In the end that PorygonZ reached stability and even an increase of power. All those things they explained about being alive. If they are computer functions codenamed in such a way, then Aayla wouldn't be so familiar with them. I had them explain things to other agents and they tried to create a program to cause the other PorygonZ to reach the stage that agent's PorygonZ was in. It failed miserably, as we witnessed, and it only corrupted the data of the PorygonZ used."

"Though they were born from technology, this is something that a simulation cannot do," Delia tried to explain. "Do you remember what they say about the origin of Grimer and Muk and later Trubbish and Garbodor?"

"That they were created from pollution and a chemical spill at a garbage dump," Giovanni recalled. He had known about the theories concerning Grimmer and Muk for a long time. It wasn't until later that he visited the distant region of Unova and sought information about all their pokemon to become familiar with the territory. 

"There are also Voltorb and Electrode, who resemble pokeballs and have many theories surrounding their origins." Delia had once seen a show about the mysteries of life on TV, which spoke of trainers that specialized in raising pokemon linked to unusual origins like those. They tried to understand the mysteries of life by understanding those pokemon. "Let's not forget Castform, created at the weather institute in Hoenn."

"I know that, but how is that related to PorygonZ?" Giovanni inquired, trying to figure out just what was Delia getting at. "It's true that all of those pokemon are somehow artificial, that includes Porygon and its evolutions, but where's the connection? Why are Porygon and their evolutions the only pokemon being affected?"

"Because they're mostly digital," Delia concluded as it was the most clearly marked difference she could find. "It was easier for the others to go from an inexplicable occurrence, a phenomena of human byproduct, or an actual product made with a purpose, to a living being due to constantly possessing some kind of physical form, or even a spectral one." She paused observing Giovanni's perplexed expression. "That's what Aayla tried to say when she mention them becoming like the others, the PorygonZ need to learn to be living beings, not just programs. If they cannot do that, this... computer virus or whatever it is, will kill them. Or make it inevitably obvious that they couldn't be alive and that will tear them apart, turn them into those blocks of random data that were called the missing numbers. The key to living is life itself. That's why Prism recovered, because of her trainer, that's what Ash sensed, the life growing within."

"Delia... this is..." Giovanni didn't know how to explain it. It was illogical, like something right out of a fairy tale, yet Delia insisted upon her interpretation. If he was going to look at the situation with an open mind, maybe her analysis was right, yet that only made everything make less sense. 

"With all that you've seen in life, with all that you can now remember, don't you think it's possible? The bond between humans and pokemon, between one pokemon and another, between humans, between all living beings, it's that strong." Delia tried to explain. "You've seen it before, in the past with how pokemon came to our side when we first fought Tempest. Trust made them become stronger and even evolve for us. You stopped witnessing it for some time, but now I know you've seen it again. Just look at Persian, it takes a champion level pokemon to stand up to Ash's Pikachu, I've seen countless strong trainers be defeated in seconds. Even if you raised him as a show pokemon rather than one to be used in battle, he's strong because you raised him with care. I can help; we can raise the PorygonZ together and help them find true life. You don't have to believe what I'm saying right away, just try."

"As things stand now," Giovanni inputted the code to make the elevator move down. "I'm willing to try anything. I see no harm in letting you care for them, if anything it'll do them good, you've always been great at taking care of pokemon. Do you realize what my plan is?"

"Of course," Delia had long since made up her mind to lose all traces of denial. She was optimistic, but not ignorant. "The satellite system is an important strategic point in your take over plans. They're far more advanced than I thought. With access to all the sources of information in the world and a deadly laser weapon constantly protecting your interests, regardless of the time and place, controlling the world can truly be achieved. Even the most advanced computer processor wouldn't be enough and even the most ingenious human couldn't keep up, those PorygonZ are the only one that can do this. When they connect to the satellites their processing power is unrivaled. You'll control the world's economy, food supply and scientific advances until Team Rocket becomes the only force that moves it. The world and Team Rocket are already closely linked, the first set up to collapse if the latter should. I know this and yet..." 

Delia fell silent with Giovanni waiting for her final conclusion, "yes?" He encouraged, his interest in hearing her unmasked.

"Somehow, I think it might be okay, actually, it might be, will be, better than it is now. Just don't forget, that if it's your world to rule, it's also your world to protect." Her ideals of justice had changed, evolved and she allowed herself a little more convenience while admitting that the traditional sense of justice wasn't perfect, nothing was. This possible new rule, albeit it filled her with worry and fear during some time, more than she would admit, it currently filled her with excited anticipation. It might be world domination, but if she knew and loved those at the top, she could allow herself to be biased and help fuel the advantage. 

In the end, there were things more important in her life than a sense of fairness, such as loyalty and love. The Delia from some time ago might criticize her current choices, but the wiser present Delia, who had learned to live how she wished, rather than try to live how she apparently should, felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Besides, if her only true worry had been Ash, she knew that she could be calm. She knew it in Giovanni's expression, in his eyes, when he defended Ash even if the Rockets didn't know who they were talking about. Any rivalries that may come and go could be set aside as it seemed that father and son had reached a certain understanding that could not be explained in words.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 110: Give me Will

Just outside of the Viridian base within the cover of the forest, Binks and Aayla were taking a walk. "I know why you asked me to come with you," Binks spoke in sadness. "You want to give me your goodbye, don't you? Don't leave, Aayla, human or not, you still have a place here!"

Aayla shook her head and took a deep breath, "I'm not here to say goodbye, just to rest and get some fresh air, it's a nice afternoon. The atmosphere underground is stressful. My power has weakened, there's little I can do now, but I think I'll stay, even if my life will not be a long one."

Binks sighed and sat at the base of a tree. "My life will not be long either; I can feel it in these constant headaches. I'll do what I can while I can. Did you know? Professor Oak, that is the younger one, will be joining our research team. He will get more resources in exchange for his discoveries fueling the industry that Team Rocket secretly controls. I'll be contributing with him and the elder Oak in a few off base research projects when things calm down around here. I suppose it was only a matter of time before the scientific community started to be drawn to Team Rocket, even if it is for the neutrality of a mutual benefit. Even so, it feels like a step forward."

Aayla, the once human turned Zoroark, sat beside her long time friend. "The future is unpredictable, but we can try to shape it at least."

Binks nodded and leaned back on the tree, closing his eyes in relaxation, "we can only do what we at present think is best and face what comes out of our actions later. For what it's worth, I intend to truly try my best for the rest of my days, be them many or few. I'll do what I can in research that benefits pokemon, to leave something behind I can be proud of. Then when Team Rocket takes over the world, they'll have what they need to make it prosperous."

xoxox xox xoxox

That evening, Delia was at the PorygonZ laboratory helping train the pokemon in order to realize the legend that would bring the products of digital science to life. The door to the lab slid open with who appeared to be Gary Oak making his way in. "I've finished it," he held out a black and purple pokeball with a metallic shine to it and a red R in the top black half. 

"Gary?" Delia tilted her head in curiosity as she looked at him, something was out of place. "You must be-"

"Petrel!" Giovanni scolded, "don't run around in a disguise down here or you might trigger the security system for nothing."

"Aw c'mon, I told them I was coming over dressed like this," Petrel removed his mask and wig. "Besides, Oak's grandson really helped out with the research."

"Wait," Delia called for a pause, "you mean to say that Gary is somehow involved... how exactly?"

"It was his idea; he called the gym and said he wanted in. If you ask me I think the little prince filled him in on a certain someone's secret identity," Petrel glanced at Giovanni. Rather than showing worry or concern, the executive seemed amused. Giovanni said and I quote, 'if he wants to join that badly, put him to good use.' So we had him conduct some pokeball research for us with an unknown mysterious sample. Don't worry; he only had a piece of the pokeball to figure out its mechanism, we kept the other half in analysis here. It was a suggestion from Binks actually. How in the world can having less of a sample make things easier to understand is beyond me, but that's what he suggested. It was something about understanding every piece instead of trying to take in the whole picture all at once. Anyway, he returned the sample he was given for study with his observations. Putting that together with what we had, sped things along nicely. He's a good resource."

"Be cautious," Giovanni warned before Delia could say anything. "If he's going to get involved take it slowly."

"I know," Petrel nodded, "he's the prince's friend, so we can't just silence him if things don't go well, we need to make sure they do."

"As long as Gary is helping out willingly and he's not in any danger, I guess it's okay," Delia agreed.

"I take it your cheerful mood means this will be a total success." Giovanni observed the rocket master ball. It was crafted as a combination of the technology used to control pokemon that had been captured in a dark ball, along with the power of a master ball and the improvements made thanks to the studies of the remnants of a clone ball recovered from New Island. 

"Of course, well, I must go back to my duties now," before any further questions were spoken, motivated to hurry by Delia's information thirsty look, Petrel left the laboratory.

"I'm listening," Delia prompted with a sweet smile, though she knew the news might not be all to her liking.

"To put it simply, this is it, the special pokeball that will capture Mewtwo. After that he will follow my commands without question," Giovanni's eyes seemed to shine at the prospect of more power.

Delia sighed displeased, "must you do this? You can take over the world even without Mewtwo."

"It never hurts to be prepared," he glanced at the PorygonZ that would hopefully be returned to the satellites when they were healed of their mysterious afflictions. "Even if there are other resources, nothing is perfectly solid. If one plan doesn't work, a different path must be taken."

"You need to have more faith in your pokemon, they'll come through for you and they'll do it willingly." Delia gently petted the PorygonZ she was training. "As for Mewtwo, it could have been different, but I would have to be beyond optimistic to believe it still can be."

"He hates me, if that's what you mean," Giovanni admitted. "You know I have to do this, even if Ash stands in my way, this isn't about him or against him, it's about capturing a pokemon that escaped from me. I think he understands that."

"So do I," Delia assured.

Giovanni's cell phone beeped, signaling incoming data. He looked at the screen and found that it was data from Sapphire's satellite. It was being operated without the PorygonZ, by the tech Rockets, albeit at a much slower rate than it would work with a PorygonZ. "They've found him!" It was the moment of truth, the final battle. "I'll be back, with Mewtwo in this rocket master ball." The power source identified as Mewtwo was near Ash's tracking signal. Unknown to Giovanni, the data had been delayed and by the time he received it a chain of events had already begun, which would present a difficult challenge.

"If you mean to ask me to stay behind then the answer is no," Delia spoke with determination. "I'm coming with you, if you must do this, then I at least want to be there for you. You know you can trust me not to get in the way."

"I know," Giovanni agreed; he knew he could trust Delia to let him resolve this. As for Ash, another confrontation may occur, though Giovanni wouldn't jump to conclusions until the time came. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Mewtwo had left the cave near Cerulean City and was in an area between Pewter and Cerulean. That place was ironically where Team Rocket's old hideout from years ago used to be. Mewtwo was unaware of that and simply thought of it as a good hidding place to have a private conversation. In the secret underground room that was left after the hideout was destroyed long ago, were Mewtwo, Ash, Misty and Pikachu, along with the rest of their pokemon in their pokeballs. 

"I understand why you're worried, but I know that the PorygonZ will be alright," Ash assured. He didn't blame Mewtwo for not trusting Team Rocket after how they treated him. It was comprehensible that the clone pokemon couldn't understand why the affected PorygonZ held such loyalty to Team Rocket despite their condition. "They were raised carefully for a certain purpose and I believe they are willing to fulfill that purpose. Though they might have been treated as tools in the past, now that they are beginning to truly feel, they're being treated well. I think that's the part that will stand out to them in the end."

"How do you even know this?" Mewtwo questioned, sensing that Ash was withholding information. This time it had been Mewtwo who decided to seek him out to ask for an update on his investigation concerning the PorygonZ and in case he had found out anything else about Team Rocket. They had teleported to the hidden location of the underground room in the abandoned ruins between Pewter and Cerulean, simply because the place was hidden and out of the way. They were unaware of its past significance. "I can sense that there's something you're not telling me. It gives me a feeling of distrust, and yet, I cannot doubt that your intentions are good. Your aura is reassuring, even if you withhold a secret."

Ash remained silent for a long moment, the darkness of the room illuminated only by a small flashlight set in the middle of their little circle. Misty gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, in a sense, you both have this in common. Why would you be judged?"

Ash thought about Misty's words and the hidden meaning in them that Mewtwo couldn't perceive. In a sense, Mewtwo's ancestry was also Team Rocket. "The way he feels is... I can't blame him, but I don't feel the same way." Ash referred to Mewtwo. "I can't hate him even if I know what happened. I understand him, that's no excuse, but still..." This time he spoke of Giovanni, though only Misty and Pikachu knew.

"Enough of these riddles," Mewtwo's psychic voice was serious, his eyes determined. 

Ash let out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding. "I know the PorygonZ will be alright because my mother is helping take care of them. She always takes really good care of pokemon. My father is a strong trainer, though his techniques are different from mine, I think he's slowly rediscovering how he used to be. He's improving and I know he's not really a bad person, even if he is the leader of Team Rocket."

Mewtwo's eyes widened in disbelief, "you are that man's son?" His psychic voice was a mix of anger and disappointment. Yet despite it all, Ash's aura was sincere and this was the same person who, against all odds, helped him long ago. Mewtwo calmed his rising anger, the light purple glow around his body dissipating. "If I were to judge living beings by their origins, the first I would have to judge would be myself. I cannot forgive him, but I will not judge you by his actions."

Outside, the blades of a helicopter were heard followed by the landing of the flying vessel. It was painted black with a red R on it. An N had been hastily spray painted in front of the red R, its last line merging into the R's first line. The yellow paint also covered the R, though its original color was still somewhat perceptible. It was the symbol of Neo Rocket, which was never widely used given their merge with Tempest under their name. "Mewtwo!" an unknown voice suddenly called from outside. "I know you're there! Get out here!"

Confused about how he could have been found, Mewtwo went out to face whoever challenged him. Ash, Misty and Pikachu followed. There stood two people, one that Ash was not familiar with and another that he had met before. "You're the Iron Masked Marauder!" It had been years since their last encounter, but this was no doubt the same villain.

Neither the Marauder, nor his ally, were wearing a Team Rocket uniform, but Mewtwo's attention was focused elsewhere, in a point behind the Marauder where his second in command stood. Ben, once a loyal Rocket, now a traitor and the right hand agent of the Neo Rocket leader, was holding several pokemon hostage. The pokemon were encased in a bulletproof glass container in the helicopter with light but painful electricity assaulting them. "All it takes is the press of a button for them to die, so don't even think about trying anything. Not even your psychic powers can free them fast enough. Attempting to teleport them out of the machine will only result in a big explosion."

The Marauder taunted, "have you began to feel it? He glanced at the machine containing the pokemon, Purrloin, Deino, Poochyena, Murkrow and Sneasel. "With the dark power being drained away from our little hostages, a special type of wave is being released into the surrounding area. I'm sure it's quite uncomfortable for a psychic type."

"Let them go!" Ash immediately demanded, "Pikachu-"

"Don't!" Mewtwo stopped him, "look at them, they'll kill the hostages without a second thought. We won't be able to save them."

"This can't be it..." Misty was expecting Team Rocket to go after Mewtwo, but she wasn't expecting this. 

"I'll battle for the hostages," Ash offered. "I challenge you, stop being a coward!"

"This isn't a negotiation," the Marauder glared in anger. "This is an order, surrender now Ash Ketchum," he aimed a gun at Ash, "or should I say Ash Roketto? Give up or be killed." He turned his aim towards Misty, "you'll be insurance enough, there's no need to bring her along."

"No!" Ash jumped in front of Misty, "don't you dare hurt her."

Misty reached a conclusion, "he's not with Team Rocket," she realized.

"Insurance..." Ash echoed, "you're a traitor, you intend to go against Team Rocket and take it for yourself! Is that all you know how to do, take hostages?"

"I don't fully understand what your plan is," all attention turned towards Mewtwo as he spoke through his psychic voice. "However, one thing is clear; your intentions are evil, if you stand with Team Rocket or against it does not matter. I intended to leave this era for a time when I hope to be almost, if not completely, forgotten, but I can't abandon anyone to suffer in my place." He looked at the Marauder with frustration and anger, "the one you seek is me, leave the others out of this." He stepped towards Ash and Misty and gathered his psychic energy. The dark pokemon howled in pain the machine detected the power and drained more of their life to try to cause Mewtwo the same pain. Though this was not strong enough to defeat him, it made the suffering of the others obvious and pushed him to give in. 

Releasing his power, Mewtwo teleported Ash, Misty and Pikachu away, just as the Iron Masked Marauder threw a rocket master ball at Mewtwo. Seeing the hostages' pain Mewtwo felt lost and couldn't fight the beam of dark light that entrapped him. Should he release his power, those pokemon would surely die and he couldn't live with that. He didn't know what would happen once he was captured, but he hoped that the consequences were limited to himself and didn't pain others even if they pained him terribly. As the rocket master ball consumed him, that wish faded into nothingness and his mind became a dark and empty place were his will was lost, unable to resurface.

"Finally, the power that Giovanni so badly wanted is mine!" The Marauder laughed triumphantly. "You've assisted me well, Ben. The weaknesses you discovered in the PorygonZ from the data collected all those years ago from Silph, provided a good distraction. Many of Team Rocket's resources were given to that and two rocket master balls were created secretly instead of one. Of course, it's what's inside it that counts, Giovanni is too late to use the one he has."

"It's about time things changed," Ben agreed, "all this time of working hard and by the time Team Rocket finally takes over the world step by step with this slow plan of Giovanni's, who knows how old we would be. I'm tired of waiting, I'm tired of putting in all this effort to Team Rocket, it's time to be rewarded!"

"Indeed," the Marauder grinned evilly. "You've been quite helpful, but now that I have the power of a legend in my hand, you are of no further use." As a look of shock invaded Ben's face, the Iron Masked Marauder shot him.

xoxox xox xoxox

"It's time to get this show started!" Petrel excitedly cheered practically bouncing on his seat on the helicopter. His happiness was amplified by the fact that Delia agreed to wear the outfit that he prepared for her. 

It was a costume similar to that of a royal army general with black being the predominant color. The shoulders were accentuated with red, while the sleeves had golden lines at the end. Two more golden lines went down from the shoulders to the waist with two rows of golden buttons. The uniform matched Giovanni's, save for a few obvious differences, such as the mini skirt and knee high black boots. Proton had joked that the outfit made her look like a cross between a merciless woman of war and the cutesy protagonist of a magical girl show.

"What I don't understand is why I'm supposed to carry this around." Delia held up a whip.

"It's part of the outfit, use it while ordering grunts around and it'll really enhance your image!" Petrel insisted.

Archer and Ariana were busy keeping the rest of Team Rocket in order while the leader was out of the base. They would also provide guidance and backup as needed and keep the streets around the area conveniently closed. With the multiple investments and connections that Team Rocket secretly had, it was not difficult to close off the main route between Pewter and Cerulean. Those who traveled between the two cities would have to take the longer way around via some of the newer routes formed between Viridian and Celadon, then from there move on to their final destination.

The large main helicopter was followed by several other small ones, all of them painted black with the proud Team rocket symbol of a red R. For this operation no disguises would be needed, since civilian interference was already taken care of. Several combat vehicles and trucks painted in matching colors and labeled the same way as the helicopters followed. If anything it would help to contribute to the excuses as to why those roads needed to remain closed. Coming up with a supporting story to cover up their deeds was something Team Rocket had experience with.

Unfortunately, by the time they arrived at the location, though they departed as soon as they received the news, the capture of Mewtwo was already over. The helicopter along with the machine that contained the hostage dark type pokemon were still there next to Ben's dead body. There were no signs of the Iron Masked Marauder anywhere to be seen. "Ben?" Delia recognized the body, looking down from the main helicopter, where she rode with Giovanni, Petrel and Proton. "This is terrible! Who could have done this?"

"The traitor, that's who," Proton recognized the abandoned helicopter as once belonging to Team Rocket. The yellow symbol on it was NR, no doubt referring to Neo Rocket. "It looks like the Neo Rocket secret leader really was still among us."

"Where are Ash and Mewtwo?" Giovanni demanded to know. It was obvious that the Neo Rocket leader was no longer hiding his presence from Team Rocket, which probably meant that he thought he had the upper hand. A communication link was opened with the Viridian Headquarters while a few Rocket agents further investigated the scene and took the hostage pokemon into custody. "Archer, what's going on? Give me the current location of Ash and Mewtwo."

"I'm working on it," Archer looked as if he was quite busy typing into a computer that was not visible from the video call's angle. "Our satellite information was delayed and we attributed it to the lack of processing power without the PorygonZ. Apparently it was more than that, when the PorygonZ were attacked, the satellites' programming was damaged and someone else obtained the radar information before we did, from within the Viridian base. This can be repaired, but even with all the known loyal tech Rockets working on it, it will take time. I can't give you any accurate reading right now."

Delia was listening with her worry growing, "when can you tell us where they are? Are Ash and Mewtwo even still in the same place?"

"My apologies, I can't do much as things stand now," Archer was clearly frustrated with the situation. "There is another alternative; the processing power of the PorygonZ amplified by the satellite hardware can apply the program repairs in a matter of minutes. That would mean returning the PorygonZ to the satellites in their current fragile state; it's a very risky move."

"Do it," Delia interjected, "the PorygonZ were pained and confused, but trusting them and counting on them is exactly what they need. We'll need to be in constant communication with them to monitor their health."

Before the situation could be further discussed, another communication link was opened to both Archer and Giovanni. Their respective screens were split to show two images, one was of the previous communication between Giovanni and Archer, plus the new one showing Ariana with Ash, Misty and Pikachu in the background. "Urgent news," Ariana spoke, "Ash and Misty just arrived and they had an encounter with the Neo Rocket leader."

"Are you alright?" Delia was relieved to see that they were seemingly unhurt, but knew that there would be some bad news to come.

"We're fine, but Mewtwo isn't!" Ash exclaimed. "It was the Marauder; the Iron Masked Marauder betrayed Team Rocket and threatened Mewtwo with hostages. Mewtwo teleported us to the Viridian Forest to protect us from the Marauder. We were between Pewter and Cerulean, near some old abandoned ruins."

"That's where we are now and they're not here," Giovanni knew what that meant. He gripped the empty rocket master ball he carried. "He must have done it, that traitor must have captured Mewtwo! It won't be long before he makes a move, he won't give us time to prepare to retaliate. We need to find him immediately and take back Mewtwo. We'll have to take the chance with the PorygonZ. Sapphire can track them and diamond can support the operation with the satellite laser."

"I'm coming too," Ash offered with determination, "even if you want to capture Mewtwo and I want to free him, we can at least agree that the Iron Masked Marauder can't keep him. I want to help!"

"Alright," Giovanni agreed. "As soon as we have a location, we can both head there. You can take some agents with you too; the executives will instruct them to follow your orders for this mission."

xoxox xox xoxox

The plan was hastily put into action. The main satellite PorygonZ were sent back into the vessels in space, with Sapphire immediately being put to the task of finding Mewtwo. Meanwhile, Ash was left to form a team of his choosing. "Well, you heard Giovanni, pick your team and I'll order them to follow you for this one mission," Ariana voiced.

"Can it be anyone I want who's in Team Rocket?" Ash already had a team in mind.

"Choose your allies wisely," was all the advice that Ariana offered.

xoxox xox xoxox

It wasn't too long before Sapphire announced the location of Mewtwo. However, the legendary could only be tracked when his power wasn't contained in the rocket master ball, which meant that he had been called out to battle. The location was Pallet Town and with the destruction the brainwashed Mewtwo was causing to the town, the event would not remain a secret. Frightened citizens locked themselves in their homes or hurried away to seek refuge in the neighboring city of Viridian, while the police and media hurried towards the small town. Among the chaos, only Gary seemed to be able to defend the town against the unexpected peril, though even his pokemon faced a terribly difficult challenge.

Being the closest to the location, Ash, Misty and the team of Rocket agents Ash chouse, were the first group to arrive at Pallet Town. The town had visible damage as a result of the battle. A house near the entrance to the small town's main street had partially collapsed and other structures near by suffered damage. The main fight was taking place in the Oak land. Part of the brick fence had been torn down, with the main building showing several cracks on the walls and broken windows. The terrain had shifted, a few craters littered the land and various trees had fallen over. The most impressive sight was the amount of knocked out pokemon that could be seen all over the land. Despite being well trained, strong pokemon, they simply couldn't measure up to the power of a legend. 

Mewtwo didn't escape unhurt. His expression presented nothing but a mindless thirst for battle, with no visible strain, but his body had a few bruises and small cuts as a result of the valiant team effort of Gary's pokemon, though the legend was quickly healing. The Iron Masked Marauder disregarded any small scratches, they were clearly not enough to stop or even slow down Mewtwo. He believed that not even Giovanni's high tech weaponry could damage the legend; this was the ultimate power that would bring him an indisputable victory as the world's new ruler. 

The helicopter transporting Ash, Misty, Jessie, James, Comet, Pixel and Laiki, landed several feet away from the battle so as to not risk being knocked out of the sky. Its occupants hurried out, going past the ruins of the brick fence that once marked the edge of the Oak land and into the war zone. "Gary!"

The young researcher was on his knees examining an Alakazam, who was badly injured, Mewtwo's latest victim. An unconscious Houndour and Pinsir were nearby. Umbreon and Blastoise were hurt but still awake, trying to push themselves to fight on. Nidoking and Nidoqueen were currently attacking Mewtwo, fighting without the guidance of their trainer who sometimes gave them commands, but was mostly busy giving the fallen pokemon first aid to try to ensure their survival. The elder professor Oak was a few feet away tending to a heavily bleeding Magmar.

"Ash, what's the meaning of this? That guy said something about Neo Rocket, is this Team Rocket's doing? What's that strange pokemon he has?" Gary hurriedly demanded, while he glanced up from his first aid work and looked at the battle. Nidoking and Nidoqueen were suddenly thrown back by Mewtwo's harsh psychic powers, landing near by, half buried on the ground unconscious. Umbreon and Blastoise went on the attack again to protect their trainer and avenge their fallen comrades.

"No, the Iron Masked Marauder is Team Rocket's enemy, we have to stop him and save Mewtwo, he's... like Mew, a legendary. He's not a bad pokemon, he's being forced to do this," Ash defended as he sent his entire current team out of their pokeballs. Ash's current team was also joined by more of Ash's pokemon that had been left at Gary's care and had not yet been knocked out. Pikachu, Unfezant, Crawdaunt, Infernape, Snorlax, Bulbasaur, Meganium, Charizard and Charla all prepared for battle. Misty sent out her pokemon as well, Starmie, Gyarados, Seaking, Azumarill, Seadra and Psyduck, the last one popping out of his pokeball uncalled.

"Looks like I have my work cut out for me," Laiki observed all the injured pokemon around. Since casualties were expected, she was given the task of keeping them alive as the team's medic. She released her Hitmonchan and Mawile from their pokeballs, she was a pokemon nurse, but a Chansey just wasn't her style. "Alright you two, bring the injured pokemon to be, preferably gently enough not to injure them further." She set down her oversized backpack full of supply on the ground and began to rummage through it. "I'll take care of the healing; you should take what pokemon you have that can still fight and join the others in battle, Mr. Off-limits. Reinforcements will be here soon."

"Right, take care of them," albeit he was unsure, Gary knew there was no time to argue. He also didn't understand what that off-limits thing was about, but now was not the time to ask. "Umbreon, Blastoise!" The two pokemon returned to their trainer, "let's all get ready to attacked together."

"Look who's here, the brat who retreated after calling me a coward." The Iron Masked Marauder was suspended in mid air by Mewtwo's psychic power. 

"It's not like I left on purpose!" Ash defended. "You'll never get away with this, we're going to save Mewtwo!"

"This foolish animal?" The Marauder mocked. "He sacrificed himself to save a few hostages and yet he will hurt so many more. The creature is weak; it simply cannot face pain and would rather lose its mind."

"That's not true!" Ash argued in frustration. "Mewtwo intended to sacrifice himself, to give up his life if he couldn't escape being used." It was a sad reality, but Ash realized that was Mewtwo's plan when the pokemon's desperate last willfully used ability touched his aura to teleport him and Misty to safety.

"Regardless of what it intended to do, this power is now mine! Even if this creature wants to die, it can't even muster the will to do that much." The Iron Masked Marauder triumphantly declared. "Giovanni's greatest weapon will be his downfall!"

"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie's anger was boiling and she was all too eager to battle. After all, she and James were part of an elite team personally chosen by the boss' son. She called out Flareon, Arbok, Seviper and Swoobat to battle. 

"Make it double!" James automatically said before attempting to correct, "triple, quadruple... there are a lot of us here today." He sent out Growlithe, Carnivine, Cacturne and Weepinbell to battle, with all of them nearly crushing him in a hug before taking their positions to fight.

"Meowth!" Jessie and James' talking pokemon companion jumped into action even if it wasn't the end of the motto, he too wished to assist in the battle.

Jessie cleared her throat and looked at Comet and Pixel, who had already called out their pokemon in beams of red. Gyarados, Scyther, Absol, Charizard and Pikachu. Pixel's PorygonZ had been left at the Viridian headquarters to assist the satellite PorygonZ remotely. 

"Must we?" Comet questioned, was the Marauder even going to float there and listen? Judging by the glowing orb Mewtwo held, it didn't look like it.

Pixel had heard the motto before and it looked like Jessie was set on reciting it with everyone, but there wouldn't be enough time for it. "To protect the world from devastation... we have to attack now!"

"That doesn't rhyme!" Jessie scolded.

"We'll work on it later! To stop the Marauder we need to take away the psychic protection around him, that means we'll have to knock out Mewtwo." It was painful but Ash knew it was the only way to save Mewtwo from doing what he feared the most, hurting innocent beings. "Everyone together, attack!" 

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. Again, some small changes were made to the effects of the attacks to make the battle more interesting.


	34. Part 34

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 111: Give me Valor

The trainers and pokemon faced off against their dangerous opponent in Pallet Town. The Iron Masked Marauder was floating several feet above the ground, protected by the brainwashed Mewtwo's psychic power. To get to him they would have to knock out Mewtwo and to free Mewtwo they would need to stop the Marauder. As things stood, a battle against the legendary was inevitable. Ash, Misty, Gary, Jessie, James, Comet and Pixel were ready with their pokemon, while Laiki and Samuel tried to save as many of the previously injured pokemon as possible. 

Their able fighters consisted of Ash's Pikachu, Unfezant, Crawdaunt, Infernape, Snorlax, Bulbasaur, Meganium, Charizard and Charla, his other pokemon that were at the Oak lab had already been knocked out while resisting the attack alongside Gary's pokemon. The young researcher only had Blastoise and Umbreon left to battle with. Misty's Starmie, Gyarados, Seaking, Azumarill, Seadra and Psyduck were also out of their pokeballs alongside the pokemon of Jessie and James respectively Flareon, Arbok, Seviper, Swoobat, Growlithe, Carnivine, Cacturne, Weepinbell. Joining them were Rocket agents Comet and Pixel with Shenron, the Gyarados, Rykros the Scyther, Meteor the Absol, Pyro the Charizard and Peachy the Pikachu.

"Psy?" Psyduck ran as fast as his short legs and stubby webbed feet would carry him and stood in front of Misty as if protecting her. His face was consumed by a look of concentration as if he would attack. "Duck?" Then his expression turned blank, realizing that he simply didn't remember how to use his power. 

"You're just going to get hurt out there," Misty recalled the yellow water pokemon into his pokeball before he gave her some of his contagious headache. "I appreciate the sentiment, but you better sit this one out."

"Time to end this," the Marauder laughed evilly as he glared through his iron mask. "Mewtwo, kill them slowly with your psychic powers, make them feel pain for daring to challenge me. Follow your master's order!"

"I'm sorry Mewtwo..." Ash whispered as the legendary was surrounded by a bright glow and began to lift his paw. To retaliate was their only option. "Everyone, use hyper beams on Mewtwo, all together and if you don't have that move, use something similar and powerful!"

Instructed by their trainers to listen to Ash, the pokemon showed a bright display of power. The beams of energy mixed with some elemental attacks were shot straight at Mewtwo, colliding with the beam of psychic power the pokemon had conjured. The two lights struggled in mid air with sparks, flames and raw energy falling from the collision point and burning the ground below. The light was far too bright to look at, as everything was surrounded in a mix of colors that equated to an impossibly endless white, then became an impressive prismatic luminescence of power. The pressure could be felt in the atmosphere and the air was so thick they could hardly breathe. They all heard a strange ringing in their ears as if the waves of energy threatened to shatter their very minds.

When at last the energy collision proved to be too much, the chain reaction sent drops of energy raining like stars all over Pallet Town. The nearby buildings were pierced by the beautiful but deadly prismatic drops like thousands of bullets. The terrain and streets also took heavy damage. Screams of agony echoed from the few citizens that had decided to lock themselves in their homes, rather than fleeing to the near by city of Viridian, the structures provided virtually no protection. All the trainers present were knocked back, thrown all over the ground, save of course for the malevolent controller of Mewtwo. The injured pokemon took a sharp turn for the worse, making it clear that if the fight continued in the location, they wouldn't make it.

Ash struggled to get up from the ground. His clothes were slightly ripped and he felt small cuts and bruises all over his body. Even if nothing had physically touched him, he ached as if he had received a beating and his mouth tasted his own blood. Mewtwo's raw power had clearly grown over the years. He looked at his companions, who were in the same state he was in. 

Professor Oak had taken the hit especially bad in his old age. Gary was at his side, as fast as he could, trying to help him. Gary recalled his pokemon into their pokeballs. Blastoise and Umbreon were already injured from before, which exposed them more to the recent attack. The pokemon were hurt and simply putting them in pokeballs wasn't going to do them any good if their injuries were not given immediate medical attention, but there was simply nothing more to be done at the present minute. "Ash, I'm all out of pokemon and I need to get grandpa to safety."

"No... don't worry... about me... we have to save..." Samuel attempted to speak with much difficulty, but Gary shook his head sternly to silence him so he wouldn't waste his energy.

"That power..." Jessie found herself staring up at the dark skies in shock, it was night time then. The extreme brightness from the attack made the night seem all the darker, more so without the lights that could usually be seen in the early night from the houses and the lamps that lined the streets all night long. The town was left in a blackout with only the stars and moon to illuminate the disaster zone it had become. As her senses recovered from the pain and shock, she noticed the weight of another body on hers. "James!" He had taken the majority of the hit himself.

James pushed himself up, his arms on either side of Jessie. "Are you alright? Both of you?"

Jessie knew he was referring to the baby. Though she was still well enough to put up a fight, it wouldn't be long before her condition became obvious and more care would have to be given to her health. "Yeah, we're fine." Slowly, they both got on their feet and were joined by their Meowth companion who was still somewhat dizzy and dazed.

"We can't do this," Misty gave Ash a desperate look as he held Pikachu in his arms. The electric pokemon had pushed himself to release a massive amount of electricity to counter Mewtwo's amazing psychic beam and the action was not without repercussions. 

"The odds are looking pretty bad, but we're Rockets, of course we can!" Pixel insisted, despite not enduring any better than the others. She was simply the kind of person that got excited by the prospect of adventure, since she had wished for it for so long. In a more logical tone she added, "besides, we just need to hold on until the reinforcements get here."

"Reinforcements..." Ash glanced at the Iron Masked Marauder, who seemed to be enjoying himself examining the destruction from the previous attack all over Pallet Town. He didn't have a single scratch on him, having been fully protected by Mewtwo's psychic barrier. "Will those reinforcements be enough?"

"Yes," Comet replied without a hint of doubt. As an elite Rocket agent, he had a pretty good idea of what Team Rocket could do. "There are enough resources and power to win, Mewtwo is only one, he'll be exhausted eventually, but..." 

Comet didn't need to finish for Ash to understand. Even if he believed that Team Rocket could win, he knew that the casualties would be many if both powers were released to collide. The Iron Masked Marauder on the other hand, seemed sure of his victory, placing all his ambitions on Mewtwo's power. "That won't do," Ash concluded. "We can't let any other victims fall to Mewtwo." The Marauder appeared to have found someone. Some people from a nearby ruined house survived the town's destruction and were hiding among the remains of the structure. He was clearly intended on attacking them. "Marauder, over here! Your fight is with us, leave those people alone!"

As if to support his trainer, Pikachu took a deep breath and hopped out of his arms into the ground so Ash wouldn't get caught in the shock. The small but powerful yellow pokemon let out a bolt of electricity aimed at the Iron Masked Marauder. The electricity didn't cause any damage at all, but it successfully caught his attention. "Are you in that much of a hurry to die?" The Marauder guided Mewtwo to make him float back towards the opposition. "I was hoping I could kill you once Giovanni got here. I'm curious about what he would do. Then again, it doesn't matter what he does, I'll still win. Giovanni is nothing but an overly glorified fool!"

"Shut up!" Ash growled in anger, releasing an orb of blue and white light from the palm of his right hand. It was a manifestation of his aura that he had very rarely used in the past. This time it came almost automatically. Though the aura still had no significant effect in terms of perceivable damage, the Marauder's mouth twisted with discomfort upon impact, the rest of his expression hidden by his iron mask. "Gary, Laiki, get Professor Oak and the injured pokemon out of here. Take as many survivors as you can find and go to Viridian City. The rest of you, let's put up a fight, the reinforcements will be here soon, we can do this!"

"Forget having Giovanni witness your death," the Marauder growled angrily, "I'll kill you now!"

"You heard the prince," Laiki shouted to her Hitmonchan and Mawile, "let's get moving, but before I go..." she pulled out a pistol and shot all its bullets aimed at the Marauder. The bullets bounced off the psychic barrier harmlessly. 

"That's why I don't carry a firearm, it's not very effective," Comet voiced.

"Well this sucks," Laiki pouted. "I couldn't even be humored with a single hit. That's it, I'm out of here, c'mon Mr. Off-limits, let's get those survivors to Viridian City."

"I'm not even going to ask," Gary decided, as he hurried to complete the important task at hand. Questioning the odd Rocket would simply be too time consuming and headache inducing at present.

The remaining pokemon, who were able to fight, tried to cover those who were attempting to get the survivors to safety. Belle, who had been hiding at the Oak residence the entire time, emerged from the ruins carrying a few pokeballs in her leaf arms. It was a wonder she didn't get caught by them herself as she balanced the balls and hurried towards her caretaker. "Bel!"

Gary's little green Bulbasaur, who the researcher deemed not quite ready for a battle of this magnitude, emerged from the ruins as well. He carried some more pokeballs in his vine whips. "Saur!"

"Pokeballs, just what we need," Gary would have recalled all the pokemon earlier if not for the fact that some of the pokeballs had been destroyed by Mewtwo at the Marauder's order. Thankfully, that was after the pokemon had been released from them. It seemed he was enjoying seeing the battered, knocked out combatants unable to be taken into the refuge of their pokeballs. With the few that Belle and the green Bulbasaur had brought, at least the heavier pokemon that couldn't be carried, could be encapsulated to be transported away.

While the partial retreat was taking place, the able fighters continued trying to ensure an escape route for their injured comrades. Charizard, Charla and Pyro flew towards Mewtwo and the Marauder next to him. Forming a circle around them they shot massive breaths of fire simultaneously. Rather than reaching the target, the fire was contained and burned around the invisible spherical force field surrounding them. 

"Water, attack with water!" Ash suddenly shouted. "Don't stop the fire and keep attacking with water too!" It sounded like a contradiction, but no one questioned him. Infernape, Flare and Growlie joined the fire by shooting fire blasts from the ground directly below the target. Crawdaunt, Starmie, Gyarados, Seaking, Azumarill, Seadra and Shenron shot beams of water at the fireball above, within which were the Marauder and Mewtwo. The villain was no doubt laughing at their attempt of an attack and preparing to retaliate.

The result of the water colliding with the massive ball of fire was a lot of smoke, which filled the air and made it difficult to breathe, especially for those closest to the fireball. Mewtwo's psychic power could probably ward off a smokescreen attack, but something that was a side effect rather than an attack might have so little left over energy in it that it might just pass through the barrier. While the smoke itself didn't exactly pack a punch, the Marauder nonetheless needed to breathe. No doubt Mewtwo could survive without a decent supply of oxygen for much longer than him. Maybe there was a way to attack the Marauder without having to knock out Mewtwo first after all.

Suddenly the ball of fire condensed into smaller flames in the air, culminating the change in becoming simply pillars of fire originating from each pokemon and colliding in the center, where they met amidst the smoke. The three Charizard emerged from the smoke by heading downward towards the ground where it was not as thick. The pokemon ceased the attacks of fire and water upon realizing that something was missing. The Iron Masked Marauder was no longer floating where he was before. Instead he had landed on the ground several yards way, still protected by the glow of the psychic barrier around him. He was coughing loudly and even angrier than before.

"Enough!" The Marauder yelled. "Attack! Get them all!" A multitude of small but powerful growing blue-violet orbs emerged from Mewtwo's paws one after another in rapid succession, following the pokemon as if locked on them. 

One of the orbs hit Ash's Meganium as she tried to fight it off with razor leaf, then vine whip as it came closer; the attacks were useless against it. The grass pokemon fell, pained and injured, with cuts and bruises all over her. A similar fate befell Misty's Starmie, who lost consciousness with a cracked jewel. Ash's Unfezant and Jessie's Swoobat tried to fly away from the energy orbs but were not fast enough despite their commendable speed. 

"Call them back, all of them!" Technically it was cheating, but Ash didn't care, he would protect the pokemon in their pokeballs until the attack passed and send them out again if that prolonged their resistance enough for the reinforcements to arrive. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait much longer.

A large quantity of vehicles, including army-like trucks and tanks were heading towards Pallet Town. The sound of helicopter blades could be heard along with the echoes of fast flying jets. The troops all wore Team Rocket uniforms easily recognizable in their black clothing with red Rs on their chests. The war vehicles were mostly identified with red Rs, though a few carried the symbol of Viridian, a green leaf. 

Two Rocket agents approached the group and were quickly recognized, "it's Cassidy and Botch!" Ash was relieved that the Rocket army had finally arrived; now they could win, but what about the innocents that might still be left in Pallet Town? "We need to evacuate this whole town!"

"It's already being done," Cassidy informed with an alert yet serious face.

"And my name is Butch," the green haired man added, albeit he knew no one was paying attention to him anyway.

"Our orders are to get you and your allies out of here before the missiles hit," Cassidy urged. "We need to retreat now, leave the rest to the heavy artillery!"

"Right, everyone let's go!" Ash gave Cassidy and Butch a serious look, "make sure all the Pallet Town survivors are out of here before you blow up everything." Under the cover of the Rocket war machines, Ash and his friends retreated to the safety of one of the large, very fast, double bladed army helicopters, which hastily took off after the group piled in.

Ash was greeted by a hug from his mother, who expressed her relief in his safety. His father was busy commanding the troops, but he paused to look at Ash to make sure he was not injured, an action that didn't go unnoticed by the young man. The Indigo champion looked around the helicopter. Gary, Professor Oak and Laiki had retreated first, so they must already be on their way to Viridian City, probably intercepted by the Team Rocket reinforcements. Misty, Jessie, James, Comet and Pixel along with their respective pokemon, were riding on the helicopter with Ash, Delia and Giovanni.

It was after a moment that it all sunk in for Ash. Pallet Town was in ruins and it was all about to get worse. By the time this was over, there might not be much left beyond a crater on the ground. The mere thought of it pained him. Mewtwo, who intended to give up his life to prevent this and was stopped from doing so, would be tortured by his guilt if he knew. "Pallet Town is gone..." Ash whispered sadly. 

Misty leaned on her fiance, burying her head on his shoulder and whispering. "It's okay, we'll rebuild it, it'll all be over and things will get better." She couldn't stop the tears that fell from her eyes.

The Rocket leader, his family and the agents traveling with them retreated slightly to give the aerial attacks more room. "Run the program from the satellite, do it before they get away!" Giovanni ordered. A light similar to a star was seen in the sky, and the atmosphere became heavy, though still possible to adapt to, with a distant ringing. "These energy waves should prevent teleportation." Only a trusted few knew of the true power of Team Rocket. The Iron Masked Marauder didn't know all its secrets, plus he overestimated his own plans.

xoxox xox xoxox

The helicopter landed next to an extremely large tank-like structure, towering in the path between Pallet Town and Viridian City like a mobile fortress. The helicopter landed on its roof and the passengers went inside. The atmosphere was far better inside, and the ringing was so gentle it could be easily ignored. Giovanni headed to the main command room, followed by Delia. Ash was informed that Gary was there and went to talk to him. 

"How's everyone?" Ash asked as he entered the infirmary area. He and Misty released their pokemon from their pokeballs and Laiki automatically began to tend to them, as if it were an involuntary reflex, while the group talked.

"Grandpa is resting in the human infirmary next door, he'll be okay. As for the pokemon, they're mostly stable but... some were injured badly and came close to dying. Others didn't make it." Gary was looking frustrated as he paced around the infirmary. "Miss Heartless Nurse isn't making it better." He glared in Laiki's direction.

"Excuse me Mr. Hot and Pissy," Gary took the meaning of hot as hot tempered and the flirting flew over his head, not that he had time to worry about a flirty Rocket at a time like this. "I've been a big help, even if I do say so myself. I've saved countless pokemon with my medical expertise!"

"That's not what I mean," Gary argued. "Saying 'you can't save them all, get over it,' isn't exactly the world's best consolation or encouragement. It makes it sound as if you don't care if the medical help is successful or not. That won't make the pokemon feel safe with you. You're an excellent doctor, I can't deny that, but you need to have some sensibility. These pokemon and I have lost precious friends!"

"Sensibility won't heal, and they don't need to trust me if they're sedated, grow some guts," Laiki retorted. "The fact still stands I saved more pokemon than an average nurse Joy could have," she emphasized then added with a wink. "Has anyone ever told you you're sexy when you're being a drama king?"

Gary finally caught on to the flirting when it became plainly obvious. Laiki was more forward than all his past cheerleaders put together, which made a red tint invade his cheeks. The young researcher threw his arms in the air in exasperation, "Ash, I can't deal with this woman!"

"I'm still surprised they let you come here," Ash finally spoke. "Laiki is... a bit unusual, but I don't think she's all that bad. Jessie, James, Comet, Pixel and Laiki are Rockets you can trust."

"Thanks for the kind words, princey," Laiki grinned and Misty cleared her throat. The blond nurse raised her hands in a sign of surrender. "Cool it, red, I know what's off limits is off limits. Believe it or not, I only flirt with single men. Speaking of men, I'm so lonely! Maybe I shouldn't have dumped Rex's sorry behind after all, but he was so clingy. He was suffocating, calling me so many times just to see if I was still alive. I'm a Rocket for crying out loud, I won't fall in battle so easily and I don't even get to go into the front lines that often anyway. The mansion's cook texted me that he cried like a baby when I hung up the phone after dumping him; talk about being spineless! I thought I needed a refreshing change in my life so I dumped all my boyfriends and decided to start anew... I wish I got to work with my significant other, then I could be taking a break to make out in a random utility closet like Comet and Pixel must be doing right now!"

"Actually, we're not," at the door to the infirmary there stood Pixel with Comet next to her. "We just came to see how you were doing." It was obvious that there was more to it than that.

Laiki raised a suspicious eyebrow and Comet confessed the rest. "We're also here to see how your guests are doing, especially a specific one."

"Well isn't that nice, Mr. Drama King has his very own rescue team and everything," Laiki huffed. "As if I have time to slip him something with all the medical work I've been doing. Besides, Delia said she doesn't want me to misbehave with this one."

"It's better if you don't make a mess, then whine at us about it. Anyway, we're still busy, so I guess we'll all have to catch up later," Comet announced.

"Yeah, see ya," Pixel left along with Comet and after their departure the infirmary was left in silence.

"It's all too sad if we stop to think about it," Misty approached the bed where Gary's Blastoise was resting, taking a long look at the patchwork done with his shell. The surface was smooth, save for the natural lines that were recreated after the shell's deep cracks were repaired. Other than the discoloration that would be painted over later, there was no deformity present. Misty knew that pokemon wasn't the worse off, though the cracks on his shell had been deeper than the cracks on her Starmie's jewel. Her eyes moved to the other pokemon in the infirmary and she wondered about the ones behind the close white curtains that separated the area into smaller sections. The whiteness of the room was stained in drops and even puddles of red in several places, which was something she had been avoiding with her eyes, as was Ash. 

Ash frowned; Gary had mentioned that not all the pokemon made it. Though Ash had heard the words, he didn't want to process them. Even Belle, who was probably the weakest pokemon at the Oak research lab, had made it back alive and she slept soundly next to the young green Bulbasaur. Ash didn't know that only the Bulbasaur was sleeping naturally, while the loud mouth wailing Bellsprout had been silenced by Laiki with a dose of anesthesia. The Indigo champion didn't want to think of the consequences beyond injuries that would heal in time, but he had to. "Who didn't make it?"

Laiki wasn't pure evil, but morality and empathy were not her strong points. She had few people that she sincerely cared about and possibly as a sort of odd balance, she cared about them very strongly; so strongly that she would fall to pieces of anything happened to them. However, pokemon were not among the very short list. Comet and Pixel both had their own different carefree ways to think, which often served to dismiss the negative consequences of Team Rocket. With Pixel it was coming from the life of a regular civilian and welcoming adventure with open arms. For Comet it was being raised to be a loyal and effective Rocket, without worrying about things beyond that. The three could be defined more so as mischievous and often inconsiderate to those outside their group, rather than malicious. 

The difference was that Pixel and Comet did include pokemon in their little group of loyal friends. Laiki on the other hand saw them as replaceable pets; perhaps it was necessary to adopt such a view for her to be an effective nurse in Team Rocket. Though she could come up with a few less than polite dismissive remarks, she didn't say anything. She could talk that way to Comet and Pixel without causing offense because they all knew and respected each other's views. They understood that though Laiki wasn't attached to pokemon, she would care for their pokemon with her very life, for the sake of the trainers, some of the few people in her short list of priorities. As for Ash, she didn't know him that well and she didn't want to anger the boss' son. Without a word, Laiki picked up a clipboard from the small desk in the corner and handed it to Ash. 

Ash's eyes scanned the list in horror. "All of them are... How could so many have passed away?!"

"Huh?" Laiki looked confused. The list wasn't that bad, though there were several deaths, most of the pokemon actually survived. "Not all of them, just the ones with D next to them. That's D for dead."

"Oh..." Ash breathed, "I thought all the ones with RIP next to them were dead. RIP for rest in peace."

Laiki let out a small giggle before she could stop it. She cleared her throat and put on a serious face. "RIP stands for repairs in progress, as in, you'll have to give them some time to recover before they can battle again."

Ash's eyes then landed on the first pokemon on the list marked with a D, Torkoal, his Torkoal. He paused as if he needed to gather his thoughts, which were just shattered by the news. Before he could examine the list further; the entire mobile fortress began to shake as an alarm sounded off. "What's happening?"

"There's been a security breach, a big one; I'm locking up this place!" Laiki announced as she hurried to go on with the procedures as planned.

"I'm not staying here," Ash ran towards the door. "Take care of the pokemon!" He dashed away following the sound of explosions from further up the corridors.

"I'm going too, make sure the pokemon recover," Misty followed Ash.

"The pokemon all better be alright when we get back," Gary ran out of the infirmary as well. 

"What are you going to do unarmed? You should stay here!" Laiki pouted, feeling ignored. The only pokemon among the three was Pikachu, who had hopped on Ash's shoulder as he ran out of the infirmary. "So stubborn and rash, oh well, I'll have to do my part and hold the fort." She locked the door activating the security system. Another metal door slid down in front of the first one, providing additional defenses. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash, Misty and Gary made it to the command room of the moving fortress, where Delia and Giovanni were. Jessie, James, Comet and Pixel were already there as well. "What's happening?" Ash urgently asked.

"The satellite is not responding, they weren't ready..." Delia's face was filled with sadness and worry. Giovanni had his hands full giving orders over the communication links, trying to stay in control of the situation. The atmosphere had gone back to normal and the ringing in the air ceased. It had been so soft before, that most could easily ignore it and subconsciously forget about it until their attention was called to it. 

"Giovanni, we can't contain him!" Archer burst through the door to the main control room, followed by the other executives who had regrouped there. A metal panel closed the entrance behind them providing extra security. The large glass window that served as a cockpit to the mobile fortress was covered by metal as well, the outside world seen only through the cameras.

"The electric charges running through the walls of this building will pose some resistance to Mewtwo's power, but it's not absolute. His teleportation can be reduced in range within this fortress, but without the satellite support it can't be stopped," Ariana elaborated.

"In other words they can eventually make it in here!" Petrel emphasized, though most had already gotten the message.

"If that traitor wants to find me so badly, I'll just go to him!" Giovanni was tired of all of this, angered by the chain of events.

"That's suicide!" Proton argued.

"He's looking for me and I'm not going to hide like a coward," Giovanni argued back, a look of pure fury on his face. He was trapped in a corner and he hated it.

"There has to be another way!" Delia insisted. She simply couldn't accept losing Giovanni, giving up Team Rocket to the Iron Masked Marauder or leaving the world in such peril.

"We could amplify the PorygonZ power and perhaps at the same time complete their living evolution if we use a direct connection," Archer suggested, trying to think of any other option. "The device is still installed in this fortress as part of its originally intended functions. Given Ash's abilities..."

"No," Giovanni declared firmly, giving Archer a warning look not to elaborate, but it was already too late.

"What device? What can I do? I'll do it!" Ash immediately offered to help, even if he didn't know what he was agreeing to.

"The device has been fine-tuned in cased we were able to find another pilot later. Besides, Ash's abilities are different, ever since you informed us; we've been doing research on the side." Ariana tried to convince Giovanni to agree. 

"Furthermore, because the total targets will be less, the process will be considerably easier, despite the power of the targets," Archer added.

"What's this about? Tell me!" Ash demanded.

Giovanni looked like he had a headache. He gave Misty and Gary quick glances before deciding that it didn't matter if they heard. "We developed a device that was supposed to form a psychic connection between a trainer and pokemon, which would mean high precision commands with an impeccable response time. To put it simply, it was supposed to be far better than verbally giving orders. The first pilot was Sabrina, but she was overwhelmed when we tried to divide her psychic connection to reach several pokemon at once. She went into a coma for several weeks." Giovanni paused, observing the expressions of all those present.

"That was her so called vacation away from the gym," Petrel added in, cutting the short pause.

"Ultimately, Sabrina had a full recovery, but a lot of research was to be done before she could further participate in the project. Other matters took precedence and this fortress was redesigned, though some of its old features remained," Giovanni finished the explanation. The fortress kept shaking the entire time, as a fierce battle took place outside of the command room.

"So this was supposed to be Sabrina's battle vessel for her to command an army of pokemon," Ash interpreted. "She really was a Rocket after all, I guess a lot of the gym leaders secretly are," he realized. A look of determination invaded his face, "I'll do it. Maybe I'll not only be able to stop the danger of teleportation, but I might reach Mewtwo after I finish helping the PorygonZ. If he can be awakened then this battle will be over."

"What if you get hurt?" Delia spoke up. "Ash, I..." she paused and took a deep breath, examining her son's face. "I know, I can't really stop you, you're going to do this no matter how many times I say it's too risky."

Ash smiled reassuringly, "thanks for understanding."

"Well, it sounds like it's been settled," Proton entered the commands in the control panel to open the secret passage between the command room and the connection chamber. A tunnel large enough for three people to fit through opened up in the center of the metal covered silver room. "Here's your shortcut, jump right in, the anti-gravity devices will make sure you have a soft landing."

"I wish you had time to change into the uniform I made for you," Petrel sighed. The occasion to see the boss' son wearing one of his creations would just have to wait.

"Pikachu, stay here with everyone, give them a hand in any way you can," Ash requested.

"Pika!" Pikachu jumped off his trainer's shoulders and joined the others.

Ash approached the tunnel and before jumping in he looked at his father, "let's have a rematch when all of this is over." Then he jumped and disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel.

"Misty..." Delia began to speak, though the red haired young woman was already on her way.

"It goes without saying," Misty tried to stay hopeful and show it in her expression. "I'll take care of Ash, let's bake another cake after this is over." She jumped in as well.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash and Misty felt the fall slow down with anti-gravitational devices until they landed gently on their feet. They were at a dimly lit chamber with a chair in the center upon a circular platform with seven stairs. The entire room was the silver color of metal, with the dim light bouncing off its walls ominously. There was a thick helmet suspended over the chair, attached to the high ceiling. Many columns curved circularly towards the center of the ceiling where the pipes and wires holding the helmet began. 

Ash sat on the chair and gently tugged down the helmet. The machine identified a new pilot and the helmet adjusted itself over Ash's head, covering half of it, over his eyes, though it was large enough not to make direct contact with his head. Instead, small thin cables extended from the helmets interior making contact with Ash's head. It felt like being electrocuted by Pikachu, but it had more of a sedating side effect to it. Ash closed his eyes involuntarily and allowed the machine to connect to his mind.

Misty stood next to Ash, her hand on his. He seemed to twitch for a moment, then relax. The wires going from the helmet to the ceiling lit up and the columns that met in the center of the ceiling were filled with light. The walls' metallic surface changed to a light absorbing black, taking away the extreme luminescence of the scene and making it much easier to look at directly. It was then that Misty could perceive innumerable thin threads forming a web in the space above them. As light pulsated through them sparkling at random places, it almost looked as if it were raining stars, it was breath-taking.

Ash wasn't sure if he was dreaming or awake for the first few seconds, but he soon remembered his purpose as his mind began to clear. He felt like he was floating endlessly, but at the same time he felt nothing. A faint electronic sound hinted that he was being directed and he allowed the previously inputted commands from the control room to carry away his consciousness. Though his eyes were still closed, he saw an endless blackness with many points of light, it looked like outer space. Up ahead there were two PorygonZ, one of them blue and the other the usual pink. Ash could feel a connection with them as if he was right in front of them. It wasn't that they were weak or unable to learn to live, but rather they were indeed evolving and being met with such a chaotic world, it frightened them. 

"It's okay, you're safe, don't worry. We're going to make things better. We're going to win the battle and restore what has been damaged. Please trust me and trust yourselves!" The PorygonZ floated, drawn to Ash, joined by several others of their kind with their usual coloring, in the near endless virtual space. Some of them were the PorygonZ of the Team Rocket bases that had been returned to their servers out of necessity of their processing power to more effectively run the security systems and others were in satellites. "We can do this, let's all work together and win!" Ash released his aura in soft waves; it was carried through the cyber space connection reaching each pokemon in it. It was working, but it was draining Ash's energy significantly.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 112: Give me Future

The situation was not looking good at the moving fortress' control room. The Iron Masked Marauder had managed to make his way past the fortress' defenses and entered the secured room. Mewtwo used his teleportation to get the Iron Masked Marauder and himself past the door, it was reduced to short range, but it was just enough. 

Giovanni released his pokemon into the large control room; they joined the two Persian who were always outside of their pokeballs. Delia followed the same course of action, as did the executives. The room was soon crowded with many different pokemon. Giovanni's two Persian, Golem, Rhyperior, Machamp, Flygon and Garchomp. Delia's Cloyster, Kingler, Mimey and Oddish; she deemed Swablu too young and untrained to join this fierce battle. Ash's Pikachu also joined the fight. Archer's Houndoom and Aggron. Ariana's Honchkrow and Weavile. Proton's Crobat and Salamence. Petrel's Smeargle and Mothim. They were quickly instructed by their trainers to follow Giovanni's lead.

"Everyone tackle, don't let them get away!" Giovanni commanded. The massive array of pokemon charged at Mewtwo and the Iron Masked Marauder, but were stopped by the legendary's psychic powers. "Use your strongest attacks; fill this rooms with beams, electricity, fire, all you have!" If they were going to stand any fighting chance at all, it had to be fast and sudden.

The pokemon were quick to obey in a massive display of power. The trainers got caught in it too, but they made no sounds of complaint, it couldn't be helped. The controls of the fortress were exposed to the release of energy and sparked hazardously, but the adversary was far more dangerous. Mewtwo's power created a massive pulsating energy wave that sent the attacks right back to their origin, knocking out most of the pokemon. The legendary was fighting more fiercely, as if his mind was further lost. Pikachu and Purry struggled to get up and attack, making one final attempt of resistance. They released the last of their energy in the shape of a Thunder and Power Gem attacks respectively. It looked as if it didn't make much of a difference, but the overall sum of the attacks was slowly taking effect.

All of a sudden, the soft ringing sound returned with the intensity of the satellite beam. The Marauder noticed, but his confidence didn't fail him. "It's too late, not even your entire army can stand up to me and once you're dead, it will be my army."

"Team Rocket will never follow you!" Giovanni stood ready to face whatever the Marauder had in store for him. Without his command, the Rocket agents present jumped to the front lines, this included Jessie, James, Comet and Pixel. 

"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie shouted.

"Make it double!" James continued.

"We'll save the boss and reduce you to rubble!" Meowth joined Jessie and James for the last line. He was still hurt, but insisted on tagging along instead of resting back at the infirmary with their other pokemon. 

"Insignificant fools!" The Marauder glared at the Rockets who were all so loyal to Giovanni. "Mewtwo, show them all true pain, all but Giovanni, let him witness it clearly before he joins them in an even worse torture!" Mewtwo was scratched and bruised all over. His movements where twitchy and his breaths heavy, yet the Marauder kept pushing him, not realizing that even a legendary pokemon wasn't indestructible. 

A few attacks couldn't do much on their own, but it was all piling up. "You're the fool, not even Mewtwo will survive much more of this," Giovanni retorted.

The psychic raised his paw, with a light blue glow around him. The same glow enveloped Jessie, James, Comet, Pixel, Archer, Ariana, Proton, Petrel and even Gary and Delia. Though nothing was physically touching them, they felt as if they were being ripped apart.

"Delia!" Giovanni held her, trying to break her free from Mewtwo's psychic grip, but there was nothing he could do about it.

"Who is the true leader of the Rockets? Say it!" The Marauder commanded.

"Giovanni..." Archer replied with a lot of difficulty and a defiant look. 

The Marauder observed all their faces, the Rockets all held the same unbreakable determination. "It doesn't matter what you say," he growled. "The others will submit to me, the majority will follow me and those who don't will die along with their leader. Mewtwo, attack!"

The glow around Jessie, James, Comet, Pixel, Archer, Ariana, Proton, Petrel, Gary and Delia became brighter than broke into lightning. All ten of them fell motionless to the floor, albeit they were still conscious, their bodies were prevented from movement by Mewtwo's psychic power. The legendary floated towards Giovanni who gently placed Delia behind him and faced Team Rocket's greatest creation. The Rocket leader desperately tried to fight back, emptying his gun of all it's bullets half at the Marauder and half at Mewtwo, they had no effect what so ever on either of them. He then prepared to fight back with his bare hands; he wasn't going to give up until his final breath was extinguished. Unfortunately he didn't get the chance to do anything before Mewtwo's psychic power surrounded him, making him unable to move. The pain was unbearable, but Giovanni refused to give up. Yet the only thing he could do was glare defiantly at the Iron Masked Marauder, who stood triumphantly behind Mewtwo.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash was still connected to the machine and thus the PorygonZ. "They'll be killed if this doesn't stop," Diamond spoke to Ash through the connection they currently shared.

"We're trying to stop this, but that pokemon is too powerful. At the same time, he's in pain, we can hear him crying on the inside," Sapphire elaborated. 

The mental images of the other PorygonZ surrounded Ash, looking to him for guidance. "Don't give up," Ash struggled not to sound tired so as to not discourage them. "Keep trying, I'll go over there too, you'll be fine fighting from here. Direct me to Mewtwo."

The PorygonZ complied and allowed the connection to Ash to be projected through the invisible beam they aimed at Mewtwo. The connection process was very painful, showing how tormented the legendary pokemon was in his subconscious. The scene changed and Ash was no longer in the outer space-like scenario. The place looked certainly endless and dark, but it lacked the points of light from before. There was instead a single dim glow in the distance that Ash hurried towards. "Mewtwo!" He called out through their link.

The faint glow took shape into the form of Mewtwo, but he looked much younger, like a frightened newly hatched pokemon. "I can't wake up," he whimpered. "It hurts so much, I don't know what's happening, I can't wake up. Who are you? Why are you here? Your energy... it's not bad."

The pain reflected in Mewtwo's frightened purple eyes was terribly deep and desperate. He longed to disappear if only to end it. Ash was shocked by the sight, he knew that Mewtwo was not doing well, but the emotions around him were simply too strong. Ash hugged the image of the young pokemon. "It's going to be okay, I'll help you wake up."

"How can you?" The small Mewtwo asked. "There are others out there. They are being hurt by some terrible creatures, I can feel it. They're all around, shapeless and dark, evil. There's a voice telling me what to do, it's commanding me to attack the creatures. Forget about me, please help them. I'm weak; I can't beat him, the leader of the creatures. He scares me!"

"Is that what you're sensing?" It was no doubt part of the brainwashing. "That's not the way things are. That voice is bad, don't listen to it, don't fight. Your friends will be safe, I'll make sure of it. You have to stop listening to that voice, stop fighting!"

"Friends?" Mewtwo repeated unsure. "I have friends? I can't remember... My friends..." Ash felt his energy fading away. He was trying to support Mewtwo's true self so that he could wake up and regain control of his body, but his mind seemed to be too far gone. Was this truly the point of no return for Mewtwo? 

A pink light appeared in the distance, piercing the endless darkness, a high pitch voice called out, "mew!" The form of Mew appeared before the young Mewtwo and Ash, "mew..." The pink legendary joined them in a group hug, releasing a soft calming glow. Then they heard the melodious psychic voice of Mew, "this trance feeds on malice, hatred and anger. Don't give into those emotions, don't think of the pain. Think of the good things of life, let go, forgive, think of peace..."

xoxox xox xoxox

At the control room, the Iron Masked Marauder was sure of his victory. He still didn't doubt it when the glow around Mewtwo began to diminish. The legendary's soulless eyes changed and were once again full of life, a brilliant endless violet. For a split second his eyes focused, he saw the leader of Team Rocket, a man he couldn't bring himself to fully forgive, but have come close enough not to seek vengeance, allowing himself to let go of the leftover anger in his heart. Mewtwo was filled with regret and uncertainty, though he tried to maintain a grip on hope and think about what was precious to him. He didn't know what would happen now, he didn't know if he would survive, he didn't know if he wanted to survive, then he collapsed.

xoxox xox xoxox

The young Mewtwo had faded away from the psychic space were Ash and Mew were. Ash was weak from the entire ordeal and felt as if he would fade into nothingness. "Mew!" Mew's soft glow surrounded the young man, shielding him from the grave danger that exhaustion signified without properly disconnecting his mind from the machine. Ash heard Misty's voice calling his name as Mew carried him in a warm light. He smiled peacefully; he knew that everything would be alright, the battle had ended. He listened to Misty's voice, allowing himself to relax thinking of her.

xoxox xox xoxox

It was the morning of a new day by the time Ash finally woke up. He slowly opened his eyes to find himself in a room he had seen few times before. His disoriented mind couldn't place were he was, thus he mumbled, where am I?" His voice was groggy with the remnants of a deep slumber.

"Ash!" Misty had been nodding off next to Ash. She became fully alert when she realized he was awake. "You're in a guest room at the Viridian Gym." She gently caressed his face, relieved that his previous fever was completely gone. "The doctors said you weren't seriously hurt. They said you were only exhausted and would recover after sleeping for a few hours." Misty didn't want to admit it, but in the back of her mind she feared that Ash would fall into a coma worse than Sabrina's and not wake up for a long time, if at all. Every time such a possibility surfaced in her mind, she would push it away and tell herself she had to have faith and believe Ash would be okay.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu had received medical attention, but refused to stay away from Ash, so Misty took him to his trainer. The small yellow pokemon had been sleeping next to Ash for several hours.

"It's good to see you too," Ash petted his long time pokemon companion and gave Misty a reassuring smile. "I'm okay, a bit sore, but I'm sure it's nothing serious. How is everyone? Mom, dad, Gary, the pokemon and everyone are okay, right? What happened to Mewtwo and Mew?"

"Mew?" Misty questioned with a perplexed look. "I didn't see Mew and no one has mentioned anything about Mew."

"Coming and going so quickly, showing up suddenly and leaving without a trace, that sounds just like Mew," Ash breathed.

"The others are okay," Misty assured. "The pokemon are resting and recovering. Gary is staying with them supervising everything. He said he didn't quite trust Laiki and her team of Rocket medics to do the job, though they have been effective. Gary and Laiki have been bickering the entire time... or bickering and flirting in her case. She just doesn't know when to give up, even if she claims she won't do anything to Gary because Delia told her not to." Misty's expression went from light and relieved to concerned. "Mewtwo is the one who's worse off. His injuries were pretty bad and he had to be taken into intensive care. I heard that he was supposed to have been physically stabilized, but somehow, his life is still hanging by a thread, as if his own psychic power is working against him. Your father has a large team of experts working on keeping him alive." That was all that could be done for the time being. The issue of Mewtwo's freedom would be addressed later.

Ash frowned, "poor Mewtwo, he must be feeling guilty because of what the Iron Masked Marauder made him do. Even if he wasn't conscious of his actions he must have sensed the pain and assumed the worse." Ash paused solemnly, his expression sad. "I still don't know how many pokemon fell in battle. Of all the trainers who had their pokemon at the Oak laboratory, I know I'm not the one with the biggest loss. I know most of mine were strong enough to survive, but that doesn't make it any less painful. All of this because of the Marauder..." Anger flashed through Ash's face in a fierce expression similar to the one Giovanni had when facing the Iron Masked Marauder.

"The Marauder is just barely alive. I'm pretty sure they're only keeping him alive to get information out of him later." Misty revealed. "Delia witnessed the whole thing and told me all about it. After Mewtwo was freed from the mind control he collapsed, weak and exhausted. Once Giovanni was free of the psychic hold and the Iron Masked Marauder was unprotected, Giovanni pounded him to a bloody puddle. I actually saw him when he was being taken away in critical condition. He was an unrecognizable blob; I'm pretty sure every bone in his body was broken."

"As cruel as this may sound, I don't feel sorry for him," Ash admitted. "Given all the terrible things the Marauder did, I would have probably reacted in the same way." Ash sat up slowly, to avoid having dizziness rush to his head.

Misty saw the action and protested. "You can't get up so soon, stay here and rest. I'll let your parents know that you're awake, they've been coming over to check on you every hour or so."

"That's all the more reason not to lay around worrying everyone. Besides, I really want to visit the pokemon and Mewtwo. I need to see him," Ash was determined and Misty knew he wouldn't change his mind.

"Alright, but try to take it easy." Misty watched as her fiance slowly got up as if testing his body to have the strength to stay on his feet. He felt tired, but it was nothing alarming. 

The couple was heading to the door when it suddenly burst open with Brock, Lily, Violet and Daisy running in followed by Kenobi and Lando, the last two moving at a more civilized pace. "Ash!" Brock threw his arms around his dear friend, being joined in the same action by Misty's sisters, who dragged their youngest sibling into the group hug along with them. 

Ash was being suffocated together with Pikachu on his shoulders. To avoid being squished with his trainer, the electric pokemon shocked all those around them. The electricity wasn't too harsh, but it was just enough to remind them of the concept of personal space. With a collective "ow," they backed away to give them some breathing room.

Delia and Giovanni had paused at the door for a moment, watching as the others rushed in. Delia finally walked inside and examined her son with a look of relief. "I'm so glad you're awake!" She hugged him gently, so as to not knock the air out of his lungs like the others before.

"I was so worried!" Brock dramatized, in as much of an emotional state as Misty's sisters. "When we heard about the nuclear plant in the news, we rushed over here even if they advised people to stay away. They said that all of Pallet Town was destroyed by the explosion," he grieved.

Ash blinked in utter confusion, "nuclear... what?" To the best of his knowledge, there were no nuclear plants or generators in Pallet Town, or Kanto for that matter. He had only heard about the ones in Unova. 

"I take it there's more to this than what the media is spreading," Lando theorized aloud. He glanced almost shyly at Giovanni, wondering if it was okay for him to ask. "May I inquire?"

"You can inquire what you must from the executives. There's much to be done and we'll need supplies," Giovanni replied somewhat tiredly from not having slept at all for along time. 

Petrel appeared at the door and announced, "it's time to get this show on the road. The press wants a word with you two," he motioned towards Lando and Kenobi, his eyes pausing on the young Antilles. "If you don't get out there, your father will have to speak to the press instead."

Giovanni's expression showed discomfort at that possibility, "go, now."

"Yes, right away!" Kenobi glanced at Violet as if excusing himself with his eyes and swiftly left to face the press.

"Right... supplies and the press," Lando nodded unsure, he was still getting used to his new role.

"I'll explain things," Petrel offered, "now let's go!" 

With Petrel, Lando and Kenobi gone, Ash looked at his parents, searching for an explanation, joined in the curious look by Misty. "Some nuclear research was being conducted illegally at Pallet Town by a company with headquarters at Unova," Giovanni explained. It was a company that stood in the way of his energy source secret monopoly in Unova, but not for long. "Unfortunately, there was an accident that caused an explosion, which led to a chain reaction."

"The effects on Pallet Town were devastating," Delia continued, "but the gym leader and mayor from Viridian City are doing everything they can to help. As for the presence of several vessels that seemingly disappeared into the forest. It's all part of Viridian City's help efforts. The roads were closed off and there were actually pretty few witnesses. The Pallet Town survivors were given some therapy with the help of psychic pokemon," which might involve forgetting a few things or interpreting them differently. "At least the situation is under control now and Pallet Town will be rebuilt."

"That's quite the story..." Ash tried to let it all sink in. The world would still be unaware of Mewtwo, yet would they all believe the excuses? "Will it work?"

"Some have no doubt already figured out the truth," Giovanni admitted. "But when the 'official' version is so well backed they will have trouble spreading their own interpretation. People tend to let go of things in time, the majority does anyway. As for those who don't, we'll deal with them in a case by case basis."

"I see, so there might be some more allies..." Ash wasn't sure if treating each case separately meant extending an invitation to join Team Rocket to those who proved smart and determined enough to uncover the truth, but it could be a possibility.

"The truth?" Daisy repeated perplexed.

"It almost sounds as if what was on the news wasn't..." Violet fell silent as realization overtook the three oldest Waterflower sisters.

"This is all something related to Team Rocket?" Lily dared to voice.

"A battle against an enemy of Team Rocket, who has already been defeated." Giovanni explained, hinting with his casual expression that he wasn't going to elaborate further. 

Ariana arrived, pausing at the door and looking in. "I'm ready for the virtual conference. All the gym leaders have been contacted and Archer is already in a long distance meeting with the government officials. Will you be joining us?"

"You can handle it," Giovanni decided to leave the remaining tasks to the executives. Everything was set up already and he had previously discussed the details with them.

"No problem," Ariana nodded and observed Giovanni and Delia's tired faces. "Get some rest, both of you, leave the rest to us. Daisy, Violet, Lily and Misty Waterflower, I'll need you to come with me to the virtual conference with the other gym leaders. It shouldn't take more than an hour or two."

Still a bit confused by the situation, the elder Waterflowers followed Ariana. Misty looked back at Ash with a reassuring smile, "see you soon."

"Yeah, see ya," Ash looked at the confused Brock, who seemed to know the least about what was going on. In the end it was decided that Brock could be included as an ally due to his connections to Ash and the Kanto gyms. "Go on, ask if you can tag along too, but make sure not to say too much." Ash looked at his father, searching for confirmation.

"Fine..." Giovanni allowed it. The importance of not angering Team Rocket had already been clearly established.

"Oh... um... right..." Brock went out of the room to catch up with Ariana and the Waterflowers.

A short moment of silence passed as Ash was alone with his parents, aside from Pikachu and the two Persian that followed Giovanni. "Can I see Mewtwo?" He cut to the chase and asked what he so badly wanted to ask, though his voice came out with an almost shy tone to it.

Giovanni examined Ash's expression; it was a mix of hope and worry. "You can, but he's currently in a coma."

"Even so, I want to see him," Ash insisted.

xoxox xox xoxox

The room where Mewtwo was kept was understandably of maximum security. Even if Mewtwo was injured, a legendary was not to be underestimated, plus any unauthorized personnel had to be effectively kept out. The place was deep underground, which required several elevators, keycards and codes to reach. The room was spacious, but seemed cluttered with so many supplies, machines and people. Binks was there, with Aayla observing the procedures as he worked with several other scientists to try to better Mewtwo's condition.

The scientists opened a path as they saw the boss, the lady and their son approach. Ash looked at Mewtwo's still form as he lay in bed. He had many wires and needles attached to him and a glowing collar around his neck. The legendary had an expression of pain constantly on his face. "Mewtwo..." Ash gently whispered and placed his hand on top of Mewtwo's paw. The second his fingers made contact the entire world around him appeared to freeze. "Mewtwo?" Ash called again, but his voice remained unheard, he could only speak through the psychic link that Mewtwo had opened. Ash appeared to be motionless with his eyes closed to everyone else.

"I am here," Mewtwo's psychic voice replied and a ghostly image of the legendary appeared before Ash, floating above his battered body. "I have no true recollection of the events that have recently passed, but there was pain and I somehow know you helped me overcome it. My brother was there as well," he referred to Mew. "He contacted me through a psychic link and offered to take me to safety, but I didn't have the will to leave. I told him that I would wait so that I could speak to you. Mew won't tell me of what I did while I was not myself. I knew you would come and in my state, I couldn't be used for anymore evil while I waited. Please tell me, what happened?"

Ash took a deep breath and tried to organize his thoughts. "The Iron Masked Marauder did some terrible things," he stated with all certainty. "You didn't do anything bad. You were hurt by the Marauder like the others. You're innocent; you have nothing to feel guilty for! You said you could open the door to a journey without limits. If you can do that, then go. Go where you can live in peace, you shouldn't have to leave, but maybe later you can come back and you won't have to hide."

"Maybe that day will come..." Mewtwo's image began to fade. "I still feel that I owe the world a great debt for the pain I was forced to cause. When the day comes that I no longer need to hide, I will openly repay my debt. I will search for that day, for the bright future, even if it has to be born out of darkness..."

Ash opened his eyes, no longer connected to Mewtwo's psychic link. The legendary's face seemed a little more at ease now. "Rest and recover Mewtwo, then one day you will find a bright future, I promise."

Several hours later, after Ash had already left Mewtwo's room, all those present there at the time were rendered unconscious with a heavy sleep. The PorygonZ were recovering from the strain of the confrontation with Mewtwo and their newfound emotions. At the same time they had to handle the information processing, spreading and monitoring in relation to the recent happenings to influence the public's interpretation with the various outlets of the media. 

The beam that blocked teleportation power was not at work. Precautions were taken with a collar containing micro-technology that would prevent teleportation being placed on Mewtwo. Mew made his way in and out with some fast teleportation. He freed Mewtwo of his confines and took him away. There was also another in Mew's company caught by the security cameras as they disappeared. 

xoxox xox xoxox

The above ground gym area was filled with refugees, survivors of Pallet Town, who were being tended to by the gym personnel, Rockets in disguise. They would be given places to stay in the city until Pallet Town was rebuilt. When Giovanni was given the news about Mewtwo's escape, he was, as expected, very angry about it. Even so, he still had to make an appearance for people to see him and be further reassured that they could count on the city's gym leader. After that was over, Giovanni glanced at Ash, as if calling him. The Indigo champion had been helping out and trying to keep everyone calm and relatively optimistic while Brock, Misty and the Waterflowers were still busy with their meeting.

Excusing himself casually, Ash followed Giovanni to the office upstairs, away from the noisy crowds at the gym. The door was shut to prevent interruptions and Ash knew the topic of conversation would be Mewtwo, though he had not yet heard that Mewtwo was gone. Giovanni opened a video file on the computer on his desk, still without a word. He turned the flat screen over for Ash to see it. The video was in slow motion with small numbers on the bottom right showing the rate to which it was slowed and on the bottom left there was the date and time. Mew appeared with Celebi and then they and Mewtwo were gone. 

Ash gasped in surprise, he wasn't expecting Mewtwo to leave so soon. He thought the legendary would stay and recover in the Team Rocket facilities for a while before agreeing to Mew's escape plan. He must have not wanted to be there any longer, possibly seeing it as an unneeded risk after having his final conversation with Ash. "I didn't think he would leave so soon."

"You did know that he was leaving," Giovanni stated with a serious expression. Ash kept his eyes on the screen, unable to look up from it. They were at that disagreement again. "I also knew an escape attempt would come," Giovanni admitted. "What I wasn't expecting was for Mew and Celebi to be there."

Ash remembered Mewtwo's words and finally looked up from the screen, revealing his conclusion. "Mewtwo has gone to search for a bright future. He must have learned how to time travel from Celebi. They're gone; I don't think they'll come back to this place, to this era... I'm sorry I didn't mention seeing Mew, I didn't know what Mewtwo would do, but I did know that Mew was watching him with psychic powers. The combined power of Mew and Mewtwo would have been too much for the beam from the satellite, more so if they also had Celebi, even if it had been activated." Giovanni's expression was unreadable and it worried Ash. "Are you angry at me? Disappointed?"

"I didn't expect you to reveal what you knew," though Giovanni's voice was neutral and even, the words bothered Ash.

"That's not how it should be," Ash argued, "that's not what I want. You can count on me, we disagreed on this, but I'm sure there are things we agree on. I want to help; I want to do something that will be useful to you, something to make you proud! Please, don't think of me as someone you can't count on!" Ash had that fiery determination again, the stubborn resolution that reminded Giovanni of himself, albeit it was in a different context.

"I might keep that in mind," Giovanni voiced. The conversation was left in that, as Giovanni was busy with Team Rocket business.

xoxox xox xoxox

Later, at one of the long hallways of the Viridian Rocket headquarters. "Somehow, I don't believe you're lost." When some people wonder around one could assume they lost their way. However, there were some that always seemed to know where they were going, even when they were not yet sure where they stood.

Ash snapped out of his thoughts and noticed that Comet was there, having arrived seconds earlier, emerging from the opposite side of the hall. The noises of the underground Viridian Rocket Headquarters once again became apparent to him beyond the mental block he placed upon them. "I guess I was kind of spacing out, wasn't I?" Ash replied in what was becoming known as typical Ash fashion to the rockets who were somehow familiar with him. "There are pokemon I can no longer count on, pokemon that are not coming back. I know other trainers have it worse, but still... The big catastrophe is over; it's just that picking up the pieces is harder than I thought. It makes me wonder if that's how my parents felt after they broke up years ago... and that's not even the same topic."

"In other words, you're confused. Well, I'm no expert on stuff like this. As a Rocket I would say, be strong and get over it, but that doesn't really help." Comet admitted. "I suppose you already heard a bunch of encouragement anyway."

"Yeah, I just need to know how to follow it." Ash paused in thought, "I think Misty was right, that I'm simply not yet used to the idea of Team Rocket and that's what's really keeping me from getting on with my life." Ash fell silent for another moment and curiously asked, "have you ever lost a pokemon like that?"

"Yeah, Zangoose," Comet revealed. "My pokemon were strong and I didn't have any trouble going through the Rocket training, so I thought I was set. It wasn't enough... I was overconfident and that mistake cost Zangoose his life."

"I had no idea... You always seem so carefree I never thought something like that happened." Ash went over his words again as Comet grinned with a hand in the cookie jar expression. "Right, right, you're a Rocket, you need to be strong and get over it, but how did you? I don't want to think you just disregarded it."

"I didn't make a big fuss, but I was disappointed," Comet recalled. "I started trying to get to know my pokemon better after that and it helped. I was able to train them better, know their limits and what they needed to improve. I wish I had been more careful back then, but regretting it won't change it, so it's best to let go of the frustration and just keep the lesson."

"Building a stronger connection with my pokemon... and making sure they're so powerful this never happens again." Ash mused aloud. "That's what I should be doing. I'll make my pokemon so strong that nothing will be able to hurt them!"

Comet chuckled, "you remind me of the boss right now."

"I do?" Ash blinked, not really expecting such a comment. 

"Yeah, you both really like strong pokemon, and power does make things easier," Comet agreed. 

"There's something else," Ash was on the verge of a discovery, he could feel it. "It's like an idea is about to come, but I can't quite picture it. I guess it'll come when it comes." It was a solution to his dilemma inhabiting the hidden corners of the back of his mind.

xoxox xox xoxox

That night at the Viridian gym city rooftop. "Did you talk with your parents?" Misty inquired as she and Ash sat cuddled together.

"Yeah, mom's closely supervising Pallet Town's recovery. She's pretty busy with that and dad's busy with the media and business. Things are stabilizing now, the one who needs to stabilize is me," he admitted.

"A lot happened and it was all very fast. Now that everything is slowing down you need to sort out your thoughts," Misty advised. She let out a deep breath, resting her head on Ash's shoulder. "I have a lot to think about too, we all do. It's not all complicated though; your mom was right when she said everything will sort itself out. We can live one day at a time and look forward to the good things. Like the Indigo League and... our life together."

"The Indigo League!" Ash exclaimed, "I almost forgot, it's less than a week away! I have to train, and set up an alarm clock!" Ash paused and took a deep breath, "I guess we have a lot to do, don't we?"

"Yes we do, but we should probably think of the wedding after the Indigo League, I know you won't be able to concentrate otherwise," Misty teased.

Ash didn't deny it, instead admitting it with a fond smile, "you know me all too well. It's already the end of fall now and there's the Indigo League in the winter... When did they start delaying it for a month a year to vary the season? The first time I participated it was always in the summer, but I can't remember when they changed it."

"I don't remember the exact year either," Misty admitted, "but I do remember the reason for the variation was something about fairness, so that certain types of pokemon couldn't take advantage of the summer weather in every tournament." 

"I guess the League was bored or something and decided to be picky," Ash laughed. "Not that it bothers me; it's more interesting this way. Mom and dad are getting married in the spring. It's kind of odd attending my parents' wedding when for most of my life I thought they were already married," and that his mother was a widow. "What do you think of the summer for our wedding, it's what you wanted, isn't it?"

Sometimes Ash surprised Misty with details she didn't expect him to recall. This was one of those times. She had mentioned long ago when they were just starting to date and not yet thinking about getting married, that she would love to have a wedding in the summer near the ocean, albeit she was only teasing him at the time. Seeing Ash's knowing smile, she knew the suggestion was no coincidence. She smiled back and expressed her approval with a kiss.

Somehow everything would work out, Ash knew it, he just needed to see it more clearly. Team Rocket was far more than he could have ever guessed before, there was more than one side to it and all those sides were part of a magnificent whole.

xoxox xox xoxox

The next morning, Giovanni, Delia and the executives were having a quick meeting. Delia had just finished sharing her report as the head of the Pallet restoration project, which was giving Team Rocket's business allies a lot of positive publicity and public support. Unexpectedly, Ash burst into the conference room loudly announcing, "I have an idea!" Then he paused, looked at all those present, calmed his rush of excitement and spoke in a more even tone, "sorry for the interruption."

Giovanni wasn't sure if he was annoyed at Ash's outburst or curious about what idea could be so important that he had to share it right away. "This idea of yours better be good," he spoke sternly.

"It is!" Ash felt all eyes on him. He was used to the attention from being at the spotlight of pokemon battles so it didn't bother him too much. "When Team Rocket takes over the world..." Somehow, to say when felt much more natural than to say if and the word flowed out automatically. "...It'll be easier to manage with the public's support. People right now are in favor of your gym leader image so when the take over is complete and all that is revealed, it might help to ease the public's worries. If people start to change their view of Team Rocket from villains to heroes then it will be good in the long run."

"Point acknowledged," Giovanni interrupted, this was the same argument he had with Delia many times before and he would present the same explanation. "However, Team Rocket is also the mafia and it cannot function properly if it stops acting as such."

"Then play both sides," Ash replied with a look of confidence and determination in his eyes. "The heroes, the villains, the mafia, the vigilantes, Team Rocket can be all of them as it is convenient. People will see two sides of Team Rocket and support the one they like best. They could be mafia allies supporting the criminal side, or civilians supporting the protectors side, either way they'll all depend on Team Rocket. That's what you wanted, isn't it? I don't know the full details, but if Team Rocket is affected, the entire market is affected, especially the most vital products. This way the world will depend on Team Rocket even more and their power will be extended. People will become a part of Team Rocket by counting on it, then the world won't be able to go on without it. At the same time, Team Rocket's good side will be able to expand and it will be beneficial to everyone. "

The last part wasn't the best argument, but making the world even more dependant on Team Rocket was. A moment of silence invaded the conference room as all those present deliberated. Delia was smiling proudly, that was what she was searching for, an idea just like the one Ash presented. It would benefit the take over while establishing a more solid good side to Team Rocket. With that seed within the organization, it would hopefully grow in time.

"When seen from that perspective..." Archer quietly voiced. The conference room was filled with "hmm..." and such 'thinking' noises. The executives exchanged thoughtful expression as if communicating in a secret visual language, before finally nodding and looking at Giovanni. Their deliberation was complete, they were willing to further elaborate on the suggested strategy if their leader so decided it.

As impatient as ever, Ash spoke up again, "it's a good idea, I'll prove it!"

Giovanni grinned, though he wasn't about to let Ash put such a plan into motion without proper strategizing. "There is something you can do."

"I'll do it!" Ash firmly declared, his expression serious and resolute.

"I don't think it's such a good idea to agree to do something before you know what it is," Giovanni stated with a true mafia lord atmosphere that would frighten most, but not the select few in that room. "You've already agreed, so I'll hold you to your word, there's no turning back now." He let the suspense hang for a moment longer before revealing the task. "Win the Indigo League and defeat all of the elite. It has to be a clear victory, not just a lucky close call. Show the world that your skill and power as a pokemon trainer is undeniable and absolute. It won't be easy, I'll make sure the strongest challengers from all the regions are there this year."

Ash smiled with determination, "I won't let you down." He was looking forward to such a colossal challenge rather than being intimidated by it. 

xoxox xox xoxox

In the far future, Vandel, Givan and Dia were making their way through a thick forest. "Things sure are better in this version of the future. The cities are big, but there are still some secluded places like this."

"I hope you don't regret this," Givan voiced with a tone that hinted he would be saying 'I told you so' if it applied.

"I know, I know," Vandel remembered the conversation he had with his mother before going off on his journey around the world. "I won't regret it. This is something that my ancestors did, maybe even the great Giovanni and many of his descendants."

The queen's initial response was along the lines of "a prince traveling the world on foot like in the distant past? It's unheard of!" It all ended with "do whatever you want brat boy, but I'm banning you from the castles for the next year. Let's see how much you like wandering around then!"

"I'm sure we'll discover many things on this journey and make precious friends." Came Dia's cheerful voice with her usual sweet and positive tone. 

"And we'll have to keep you out of trouble," Givan spoke and with a sly grin he added, "or help you get into it."

"I suppose adventure is in your blood," Dia asserted, "I'll have to be the one to keep you both in check, but I'm all up for some fun."

"You two seem more cheerful now," Vandel smiled at his pokemon. "I guess we should all be, we have a bright future to look forward to!" He dashed into the forest momentarily going several steps ahead from his pokemon, then stopped when he thought he felt there was someone else there. It was the sensation of being watched. When he turned to look, there was only an unidentifiable shadow fading away into the thick forest. The two pokemon easily caught up to his trainer, being faster than a human could be. They seemed perplexed that he was just standing there. Seeing their expressions, Vandel answered their silent question. "I thought there was someone there. I guess it must have been my imagination, or maybe a wild pokemon!" He dashed further into the thickness of the forest somewhat carelessly, only to be chased away by a group of Beedrill.

Hidden from view, floating above the treetops, Mewtwo watched the scene unfold. "Even if Team Rocket rules this world, there might still be a chance for a bright future..."

End

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. Special thanks to Nafatali and Rocketlord.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. 
> 
> Fantasy Bit: http://mikari.piratesboard.net
> 
> Deviant Art: http://mikaristar.deviantart.com
> 
> Fanart Central: http://fanart-central.net/user/AzureMikari/


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